Dungannon Swifts star Thomas Maguire loving life at Stangmore Park as ex-Cliftonville and Larne forward looks to continue fine goalscoring form

The 24-year-old arrived at the County Tyrone outfit from Larne last summer and having recovered from an injury which kept him sidelined for two months between mid-November and January, Maguire has been in fine form.

His weekend strike against former club Cliftonville, who he spent over three years on the books of after returning from Rotherham in 2018, was Maguire’s third in seven matches, adding to goals in recent cup defeats to Portadown and Ballyclare Comrades.

With this one contributing to a winning effort which moved Dungannon up to ninth – just four points behind seventh-placed Carrick Rangers in the race for a European play-off spot – Maguire hopes to carry his form into the business end of this season.

"I want to score in every game I play in,” he said. “It doesn't matter who it's against I'm just happy to have got another goal.

"I worked hard to get back fit and thankfully I'm fit now and feeling better every game. I came to play and I'm playing so I'm really happy. I love it here and hopefully we can kick on."

McAree’s men have performed admirably against the Premiership's top-half teams this season, taking points off all six, including a memorable victory over title-chasing Linfield at Windsor Park last month while they’ve drawn twice with current leaders Larne.

Saturday’s triumph brought their tally to 14 points from 16 matches versus the country’s best – they’ve collected 17 in 14 games against their fellow bottom-half rivals – and Maguire says they’ll continue to search for consistency in order to achieve larger goals.

"I think in a way we've underachieved against teams in and around us and then really stepped our game up going into the matches against the top-six,” he added. “I think it's something we need to work on because it's brilliant but we also need to make sure we can beat the teams that are around us.

"Who knows where we could end up if we're able to find the balance and keep the consistency going against both the top and bottom six.

"We go into every game with the same mindset of wanting to win. We've shown this season that we can beat any team on our day and we just need to kick on now and hopefully our good play and form can continue."

Maguire has helped Dungannon amass an impressive 51 team goals this season – a number which can only be bettered by Cliftonville (70), Linfield (67), Larne and Glentoran (both 61) – with McAree possessing an array of attacking talent.

Matthew Lusty, who has been out since breaking his collarbone in December, and Ben Gallagher have both netted nine times in the league while even defenders have been getting in on the action with Dean Curry contributing four – no centre-back has more.

With Rhyss Campbell continuing to make his recovery from long-term injury, Andrew Mitchell arriving in January and teenager Tomas Galvin also chipping in with four goals, Dungannon have plenty of firepower.

"We work hard in training and everyone gives their all every session,” said Maguire. “Thankfully it's paying off and we just need to find that consistency and who knows where it could take us.

"It's great to see Rhyss Campbell in amongst training...he's a great lad and player. We've lots of options there and fair play to Rodney and the backroom staff for doing some great business. We've got a good group of players here and hopefully we can kick on now."