'We have to be ready to take advantage if Rovers slip up'

Brian Maher insists Derry City must be ready to take full advantage if Shamrock Rovers slip up in the remaining games in the title race.

With just five games remaining, there are five points between the two teams at the top, and the Candystripes are in their richest vein of form this season, with five successive wins and clean sheets piling the pressure right on top of Rovers.

The champions responded to City’s win at St. Patrick’s Athletic last week with a convincing win at Sligo Rovers 24 hours later but with three of their next four games played on a Sunday, they will be under increased pressure if Derry can keep winning.

Friday’s derby with Finn Harps promises to be another huge night at the Brandywell and Maher knows just how important a win will be.

“It’s a big game because they have a lot to play for as do we,” he agreed. “They came up to the Brandywell back in May or June and they were very, very good. They were scrapping for their lives and they always seem to do well at this stage of the season. We aim to be at our best, you can’t go to somewhere like Pat’s, one of the toughest places in the league and then drop off, you need to be at the same level again.”

Last Friday’s win at St. Pat’s was Derry City’s eighth win in Dublin this season, and was also the fourth 1-0 win in the last five league games. That ability to churn out results is certainly championship-winning form.

“It was a massive win for us,” Maher acknowledged. “We had to win a different way; we dug in and the conditions were very tough for us in the second half because of the wind and we probably found it hard to get out at times because of that, but if you’re going to go far in this league you have to win in different ways and we showed another side to us that we were really happy to see.”

Key to City’s success lately has been a vastly-improved defence, with six clean sheets in their last seven games in all competitions. Those clean sheets have helped pave the way for 15 points from the last 15 available.

“That’s what we need and that’s what we’ve demanded from ourselves,” Maher said. “We had a good start with clean sheets then we went off a bit and there’s real drive and the boys are demanding it again and as you can see it gives us a good platform to go and win games.

“We need to just keep winning games and just be there in case anything happens. With the lead they have they are still big favourites but we would be very disappointed if they were to slip and we weren’t there.”

Disappointment

The last 10 days have shown Maher the highs and lows of football, with City’s win at St. Pat’s coming just days after the Republic of Ireland U21s penalty shoot-out defeat against Israel in the European U21 Championship play-off second leg match in Tel Aviv. That loss devastated the Derry City goalkeeper.

“It was massively disappointing not just because of the effort we put in over the last two games but over the last 18 months,” he reflected. “You wouldn’t believe the effort from the players and staff and we all wanted to stay together and go another step and it’s come down to the kick of a ball. It was a very, very difficult place to go, there were 22,000 in the stadium and you can’t blame anyone stepping up and missing penos and I was disappointed I couldn’t keep them out. It will hurt for a while and it still hurts now but maybe at the end of the season I’ll look back and see what an achievement it was to get that far.”

Maher’s focus is now on a successful end to the season for his club, with a league title and an FAI Cup still to fight for at the end of his first season at the Brandywell.

“It took me time to settle in as we all knew it would but over the last two months I’ve felt really at home and I’ve felt that I’ve settled into the team and got near levels that I know I can get to,” he said. “To be honest I still think there are levels to go and for me that’s something that excites me. I want to play for this club, I want to go far with it and this latest run is a big part of that.”