'All that matters is Drogheda' - City 'keeper Maher

It is turning into the most exciting title race in years, with the potential of a fairytale ending at the Brandywell on November 1, but while the fans are allowed to dream, the players are keeping their feet firmly on the ground.

In the past two weeks, Derry City have come through two huge games against their two biggest rivals, defeating Shelbourne in the FAI Cup Quarterfinals before scoring a last-gasp penalty to earn a precious point against Shamrock Rovers. Heading into the last six weeks of the season, the Candystripes are on course for a league and cup double, but manager Ruaidhri Higgins and the players are ignoring the storm of excitement and focusing on the cliched one game at a time.

For Brian Maher, even talking about the last day of the season with so much football to be played is pointless.

“All that matters now is Drogheda next week and we can’t look past that,” he insisted. “We can’t look that far, everyone has seen the league this year, it’s incredible the way the results are going.

“The Drogheda game is the biggest game of our season, it’s plain and simple, it’s always a really difficult place to go and they’re playing well.

“They signed new players in the summer, who have been flying, so look we need to come back next week, recover well, have a good week’s training so we can go again on Friday night.”

Each point and each result is huge at this stage of the season, as can be seen with the furore over Derry City’s 92nd minute penalty against Rovers. The decision to award Derry City the penalty after Patrick McEleney went down in the area has caused uproar in Dublin.

“I haven’t seen it back and I’m probably the furthest away from the incident in the stadium,” Maher said. “I’m definitely the furthest away on the pitch, if he did use the ‘dark arts’ I don’t know, at the time I thought it looked like a penalty, but I haven’t seen it back, so it’s hard for me to say anything more.

“But look, we could have had a penalty before when he (Lee Grace) brushed the ball out of play with his hand. But look it’s a point, we move on and now focus on Drogheda.”

The ability to come from behind and claim what could be a vital point in such a big game could prove to be a crucial attribute in deciding the destination of the title this season. Results more than performances are all that matter now.

“Look it’s a good point for us especially where we were, but we definitely deserved it, there’s no doubt about that,” Maher continued.

"I think they managed the game really well at times when they were 1-0 up, but the gaffer made really good changes and we really attacked them and went for it, we probably could have had a penalty before and then we got one in the end.

GOALKEEPER’S UNION… Shelbourne’s Conor Kearns and Derry City’s Brian Maher are hoping to help their respective teams to the league title this season. (Photo: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile)

“Pat has shown real, real courage to step up and take it and that’s why he’s our number nine I suppose, that’s why he’s done it for so many years, to step up and put a penalty like that in, even with the keeper going the right way, it’s brilliant.”

Over the line

Maher is now hoping the fans can help push the team over the line in the final games, insisting their part is just as important as the players’.

“The atmosphere here (against Rovers) was what we need and it’s what we need for the rest of the season. The fans are right behind us. It was like the first year here when I couldn’t believe it, and it’s like that again. Look, we need everyone behind us, we have six huge games and a massive semi-final as well.”

“There’s still a long way to go, there’s going to be a lot more twists, so we nee everyone to just stick behind us and enjoy it and we are doing everything we can.”

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With the expectation high at the Brandywell heading into this season, there is little doubt that Maher and his team mates would have taken this current position come October.

“For all the panic people seem to think we’re in, we’re three points off the top of the league, we’ve got to play Shelbourne, and we’re in the semi-final of the cup with what, six weeks to go,” he stated. “Look, everyone just needs to stick behind us and give us every bit of support they have and we’ll do everything we can on the pitch.”