BRIAN MAHER HAS urged the Derry City supporters to stick by their side after losing three of the opening four Premier Division games this season.
The Candystripes are second from bottom after a winter overhaul that shaw Tiernan Lynch replace Ruaidhrí Higgins as manager and an overhaul of the playing squad.
One of those new signings, midfielder Carl Winchester, saw his appeal for the straight red card in Monday’s 2-0 defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic rejected. He will now serve a two-game ban, starting with tonight’s visit of Galway United.
Advertisement
Maher says John Caulfield’s side “did not get the respect they deserve” after narrowly missing out on European football last season, and Derry’s No.1 is adamant that home form at the Ryan McBride Brandywell will be crucial to help turn things around under Lynch.
“We would love it to be an overnight fix and to be at the end of everything we are trying to build. It will take time, and we will have our ups and downs,” Maher said.
“We need fans and everyone in the club behind us. No one is hurting more than us inside and the manager, too. We just want to put it right as fast as we can and sometimes it is a good thing to have a game in three or four days.
“It is a chance to put it right. We need the fans. We cannot afford to let the Brandywell go flat. It needs to be an intimidating place. We need people behind us because it is a massive thing to have the Brandywell rocking. We need to get that [new] stand open too and have people behind the goal, and let’s hope we have a packed out Brandywell and a packed out North Stand too.”
Derry lost their opener away to champions Shelbourne before picking up three points at home to Bohemians. Last Friday’s defeat to Waterford was followed by another in Dublin 72 hours later, but Maher is confident of an upturn.
“It is not just one thing that has caused us to have a slow start or to lose [against St Pat’s] but we trust what is going on and we believe we will see a very good team in the not-too-distant future.
“It is that competitive a league that you have to treat everyone properly. It was the same last year. There were 10 quality teams in it. This year as well there are 10 full-time teams. We should have more points at the minute than we do.
“There has obviously been a good bit where we can improve. We have left points behind in our four games. We had loads and loads of chances on Friday night [against Waterford] and we just didn’t take them.
“We would be more worried if we had not created anything. It was hard on Monday [against St Pat’s] to create much when we went down to 10 men.”
Maher was reticent to say too much about the nature of Winchester’s red card for his tackle on Mason Melia.
Related Reads
'I'd be telling lies if I said that wasn't the case' - Derry City boss still adapting to League of Ireland
'What he said back to me was an absolute disgrace' - Cork City boss blasts referee
The Irish football coach forging a path in Colorado... with a little help from boxing icon Billy Walsh
“It is something we are used to by now. People will be able to watch those decisions. There is more access to our league than ever before and maybe people will think the decisions haven’t gone against us, that’s what football is all about.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'We cannot afford to let the Brandywell go flat' - Derry City's rallying call
BRIAN MAHER HAS urged the Derry City supporters to stick by their side after losing three of the opening four Premier Division games this season.
The Candystripes are second from bottom after a winter overhaul that shaw Tiernan Lynch replace Ruaidhrí Higgins as manager and an overhaul of the playing squad.
One of those new signings, midfielder Carl Winchester, saw his appeal for the straight red card in Monday’s 2-0 defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic rejected. He will now serve a two-game ban, starting with tonight’s visit of Galway United.
Maher says John Caulfield’s side “did not get the respect they deserve” after narrowly missing out on European football last season, and Derry’s No.1 is adamant that home form at the Ryan McBride Brandywell will be crucial to help turn things around under Lynch.
“We would love it to be an overnight fix and to be at the end of everything we are trying to build. It will take time, and we will have our ups and downs,” Maher said.
“We need fans and everyone in the club behind us. No one is hurting more than us inside and the manager, too. We just want to put it right as fast as we can and sometimes it is a good thing to have a game in three or four days.
“It is a chance to put it right. We need the fans. We cannot afford to let the Brandywell go flat. It needs to be an intimidating place. We need people behind us because it is a massive thing to have the Brandywell rocking. We need to get that [new] stand open too and have people behind the goal, and let’s hope we have a packed out Brandywell and a packed out North Stand too.”
Derry lost their opener away to champions Shelbourne before picking up three points at home to Bohemians. Last Friday’s defeat to Waterford was followed by another in Dublin 72 hours later, but Maher is confident of an upturn.
“It is not just one thing that has caused us to have a slow start or to lose [against St Pat’s] but we trust what is going on and we believe we will see a very good team in the not-too-distant future.
“It is that competitive a league that you have to treat everyone properly. It was the same last year. There were 10 quality teams in it. This year as well there are 10 full-time teams. We should have more points at the minute than we do.
“There has obviously been a good bit where we can improve. We have left points behind in our four games. We had loads and loads of chances on Friday night [against Waterford] and we just didn’t take them.
“We would be more worried if we had not created anything. It was hard on Monday [against St Pat’s] to create much when we went down to 10 men.”
Maher was reticent to say too much about the nature of Winchester’s red card for his tackle on Mason Melia.
“It is something we are used to by now. People will be able to watch those decisions. There is more access to our league than ever before and maybe people will think the decisions haven’t gone against us, that’s what football is all about.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Brian Maher Challenge Derry City League of Ireland Soccer