Defender back with a mission to succeed

As he contemplates the roller coaster ride over the past four years or so, Bohemians defender Shaun Maher can be sure of one thing in the build up to Sunday's Harp Lager FAI Cup final at Tolka Park - he is travelling skywards again after a couple of fairly steep plummets.

The 21-year-old has crammed a good deal into his career since making his debut for Bohemians in 1996 and would probably change a thing or two if he had the chance to now. But after an unsuccessful crack at the English game and a season-long brush with relegation upon his return, the impressive central defender looks to be cruising again.

Successive managers at Dalymount have looked to bring the brightest young players into the club's first team squad but few over the past decade or so have been more successful than the Dubliner who made an impact within a matter of months of arriving from Stella Maris.

Such was the reputation he built, that Kevin Keegan took the then 19-year-old to Fulham at a time when the ambitious London club was growing more accustomed to writing big cheques for new acquisitions.

The move should have been an ideal one for the defender who few doubted had the ability to break into the first team. Unfortunately for Maher, however, Fulham ended up presenting a problem that he really hadn't bargained for when weighing up what appeared to be a terrific opportunity.

"It was my first time away really, my first time in London," he admits now when he thinks back to what he describes as a "very lonely time".

Initially the club put him in a hotel before moving him into digs. The other players, he insists, did their best to make him feel at home. "After a while, though, I wanted to get a flat. It was a mistake but at the time even though I was only 19 I thought I was big and wise enough to go out on my own.

"The other players were a nice bunch but a lot of them were married, there were no Irish and some of them were driving from homes that were a couple of hours away. So really once I finished training at half twelve or so each day, that was it, I was on my own."

He ended up visiting his family back in Dublin at every opportunity and came to dread the return trip like a kid thinking about school on a Sunday night. Eventually, despite doing well in a reserve team that boasted some big names and making a couple of first team appearances, Keegan told him to take a couple of weeks at home. Despite a great deal of coaxing he never went back.

After a fairly miserable first season back at Dalymount, during which the club narrowly avoided relegation and suffered a good deal of internal turmoil, Maher actually had a trial at Dynamo Dresden - a fact he laughs at now.

"The place was fairly grim really and the language was a major barrier. I mean, I don't know why I went to be honest because if I couldn't settle in London I wasn't going to there."

Still, having improved as a player during his time with Keegan and Ray Wilkins the young Dubliner has continued to stand out at club level at home and continued to harbour ambitions to make up for the chance he now feels he allowed to slip through his fingers.

This season he has partnered some half a dozen other central defenders and helped to make Bohemians into one of the meanest defences in the league. Bournemouth are said to be on the verge of paying more than £100,000 to bring him back to England where, older and wiser, he hopes he would establish himself this time. Before contemplating any possible move, however, there is some unfinished business to be taken care of.

Having originally been a little surprised themselves by just how well they started the season, the feeling at Bohemians more recently has been one of disappointment at allowing Shelbourne to get so far ahead in the league and then letting second place slip away.

"I'd like to think that we didn't give up the fight with Shelbourne until it was mathematically over but that night in Sligo when you were sitting at home checking the text and they were a couple of goals down and you go back to get the result and they've won, it was hard after that.

"That was the league, though, and it's over. They deserved to win it and the fact that we only scored a penalty against them in three meetings doesn't leave us with much cause for complaint. What it does do is make us more determined and the fact that we slaughtered Sligo ourselves last week will give us a lot of confidence going into the game."

With Bohemians manager Roddy Collins insisting that his team selection will surprise everybody and Maher having missed the defeat of Sligo with a minor knock it's always possible that he could start Sunday's match on the bench. But the young defender's star has been climbing again for a while now so a start, a winner's medal and a big send off all look well within his grasp.

Right now he's enjoying the ride too much to even consider looking down again.