Brian Maher 'proud' of record appearance milestone for Derry City

​The Raheny man celebrated the incredible milestone with a sixth clean sheet of the campaign and produced a stunning one-handed save to deny Aidan Keena in the second half - a reminder of how important he's been for the Candy Stripes since signing from Bray Wanderers in 2022.

Since his arrival he quickly established himself as No.1 and Monday's appearance was his 111th in succession in the league for the Brandywell outfit, breaking the record set by League of Ireland legend and former keeper Dermot O'Neill. A third custodian Gerard Doherty [105] is the only other with over a century of consecutive appearances for the club!

In fact he’s only missed THREE games in all competitions! He missed out twice through illness and was replaced by Tadgh Ryan for a cup game at home to Athlone.

At just 24 years of age he's joined an exclusive club alongside esteemed company but he's only starting!

"It means a lot, it's one I'm very proud of," beamed the City stopper. "It's obviously a great record to hold.

"It was something I was told about maybe three weeks ago. It's a great record to have and hopefully one I can build on as well."

He's reached the milestone in a relatively short period of time and since making his debut against Dundalk at Oriel Park in February 2022, he's experienced plenty of ups and downs.

"There's definitely been more ups than downs. We definitely had a few downs but at the minute we're improving and there's been some good results so hopefully there's more ups to come as the season goes on."

He's expected to make his 112th consecutive league appearance against Cork City on Friday night at Turner's Cross and he's hoping to end the night top of the table.

Despite a mixed bag of results to start the campaign, two morale-boosting wins over St Pat's and Shelbourne has injected real optimism into the City support.

However, Maher insists the squad were never panicking and had never lost belief.

"We've been brilliant. Even the boys at the top end of the pitch are working so hard and we need to keep doing that because we were giving away poor goals at bad times in games.

"Some of the games we lost we definitely shouldn't have and could've been sitting here with more points.

"At the same time we've been really solid. It's still a relatively new team. We're certainly starting to hit form.

"Players are coming from being mid-season and from other leagues and this league isn't like any other league. They needed time to settle. "Everyone in the dressing room knew that anyway and we weren't getting panicked. Of course we were disappointed with some results but some of those games we could've won three times over.

Players are getting fitter and stronger and that's what the manager wants. He demands from every single player 100 percent intensity and workrate and it's starting to bed in."

Maher hasn't been immune to some of the early season criticism but he feels like he's returning to the top of his game.

"You're always going to hit difficult times as the season goes on and it's because it's always going to be highlighted more when you're a keeper.

"We believe in what we do. We review things and some of the criticism you have to take on the chin.

"Maybe some of it you can look back on and disagree with but everyone's entitled to their views but I didn't hear any of it in the stadium or anything like that.

"The Derry fans have been great with me and the whole team. They demand a lot from us but at the moment we're giving it back and starting to see a team really gelling together.

"Myself included, I've had difficult times, I think every player has but I'm starting to feel back to myself, fitter and stronger so hopefully I can keep going.”

Derry are the form team in the league, just one point behind leaders Drogheda but Maher knows how difficult it can be at a packed Turner’s Cross.

“It could be a great week for us. We're not looking around at other teams or at league tables as it's only May but it is a good incentive for us which is just three more points and another win under our belts.

“We've had some really tough games down there over the years so we just need to be ready.”