Sean Maguire has only gone and went one step further in relentless pursuit of Martin O’Neill

Martin O'Neill, are you watching?

Against Georgia and Serbia Ireland looked bereft of creativity and ruthlessness in front of goal. Shane Long and Jonathan Walters have had their moments, nobody will forget their triumphs against Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina but father time is catching up on the pair. Long is struggling for regular football and Walters is nearly 34-years-old, it is time to start looking towards the future. Scott Hogan has recently declared for the Republic of Ireland, a valuable boost but fans are crying out for Sean Maguire to be given his chance to shine. The 23-year-old has impressed since moving to Preston in the summer after a year of terrorising defences in League of Ireland and today scored his first Championship goal for the side against Barnsley. Both O'Neill and Keane were there when Maguire scored a stunning hat-trick against current League of Ireland champions Dundalk and was called up to the provisional squad to face Georgia and Serbia both was nowhere to be seen when Ireland ultimately damaged their World Cup qualification hopes just taking home one point of a possible six. There is a sense that it is time to look to the future now and Maguire along with Hogan and Daryl Horgan represent our best chances going forward for the next five or six years despite being relatively unproven. Now seems like the start and Maguire's goal certainly hasn't gone unnoticed. https://twitter.com/NialOFarrell/status/906525705634230273 https://twitter.com/rosscra47/status/906525636432482305 https://twitter.com/Gilesy09/status/906524940186333185 https://twitter.com/conormono96/status/906524671356674048 https://twitter.com/SquizzBFC/status/906524325615988736