Caoimhin Kelleher has been waiting for this chance for years and he’s ready to take it.
Liverpool’s Irish goalkeeper, now 25 years old, has been understudy to Alisson, widely regarded as the best goalkeeper on the planet, for the last four years.
But recently Alisson has been missing through illness and injury and Jurgen Klopp has now revealed the Brazilian superstar will be out for the ‘foreseeable’ due to a hamstring injury. Liverpool shouldn’t worry. Kelleher played well in Liverpool’s midweek win against Luton and is ready for their huge League Cup final against Chelsea, and whenever else Liverpool need him during a pivotal stretch in their season as they aim to win four trophies, including the Premier League.
Klopp called Kelleher’s performance in their 4-1 win at Brentford on Saturday ‘outstanding’ and ‘A+' while Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper is ‘world-class’ as he’s taken his chance to show he can step in whenever Alisson isn’t available.
Kelleher grateful to get ‘rhythm’ this season
“It is obviously nice to hear such nice words from them but they’ve always been [like that],” soft-spoken Kelleher said. “I’ve always known they’ve had a nice opinion of me. It’s nothing new to me. It’s nice to hear for me and they are always there for me and helping me through games as well.”
Kelleher has played more games this season, 15 in all competitions, than in the last two seasons combined. He’s played in the Europa League, League Cup and Premier League, making smart stops, looking assured with his feet and he’s matured physically since he burst onto the scene a few years ago with his penalty-saving, and scoring, exploits as he won Liverpool the League Cup trophy in a dramatic final against Chelsea at Wembley.
“It has been good this season,” Kelleher explained. “I’ve been getting a lot more games than I have been previously so that’s been good. The last few weeks getting a run in the team, that has been positive for me. It’s a chance to get in a good rhythm and a chance to help the team get some more wins.”
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 27: Liverpool goalkeeer Caoimhin Kelleher celebrates after the penalty shootout during the Carabao Cup Final match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on February 27, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Offside via Getty Images
Kelleher has the chance to be the hero for Liverpool at Wembley this weekend too, as Liverpool face Chelsea in the League Cup final just like they did two years ago when he was the hero.
He was a striker in his younger years in Cork, Ireland and admitted he will be practicing taking penalty kicks just in case he’s needed again, while he also said he doesn’t work on saving penalty kicks that much as his amazing record saving them is down to a natural ability to ‘get off my line quickly and down to the corners.’ Kelleher is hoping his penalty kick shootout heroics won’t be needed this time.
“Yeah, it was a long time ago now that I started off as a striker but I’ve ended up in goal, so obviously I wasn’t great!” Kelleher smiled. “Hopefully we win in the 90 minutes this time and it will be a bit easier but I’ll be practicing them anyway just in case... It was a massive moment in my career, winning a trophy with a massive club like Liverpool. It was amazing. Especially how the day went, it was obviously class for me. I was delighted with that day and hopefully we can have a similar day on Sunday.”
Alisson’s influence is strong
Watching and working with Alisson every single day is obviously having a huge impact on Kelleher’s career. He is getting to see the best in the business up close and he’s soaking everything in and trying to emulate Alisson. It’s working.
“He’s obviously the best in the world,” Kelleher said when asked about Alisson. “I’ve trained with him now for a good number of years. Just being able to watch him, watch what he does, in games how he handles with situations, how he deals with situations is probably the best thing for me. Being able to watch him so closely I’ve been able to try and emulate him and try and do what he’s really good at and try and practice those things.”
Where has Kelleher improved his game in recent years?
“I’d certainly say crosses was a big one,” Kelleher said. “Alisson is really, really good at dealing with crosses and helping the team. That is certainly an area I’ve tried to improve myself on and felt the need to work on to try and help the team a bit more in those moments and take the pressure off the team in times as well.”
Kelleher is stronger when coming for crosses now, as he proved at Brentford last weekend. He’s very calm with the ball at his feet and emulates Alisson in that way too. You can see he’s been studying Liverpool’s No. 1 closely and he’s ready for this chance. However long it lasts.
What are his long term targets for club and country?
“At the moment it has been better this season playing a lot more games. Try and do as well as I can with those opportunities at the moment and that goes hand-in-hand with international,” Kelleher said. “The better I do here at club level the chances come more at international level. I just try to play really well here and see what that brings with Ireland... It’s exciting. It is a really good group of goalkeepers, we are fortunate to have three really good goalies [himself, Gavin Bazunu and Mark Travers] and that is only good for us in terms of competition. It brings you on to another level that you need to try and be better than the other two. It is really good. It is healthy competition and it is good for the country that we have such positive goalkeepers coming through.”
How Klopp has played a huge part in Kelleher’s rise
Having the belief and confidence of Jurgen Klopp is a huge positive for Kelleher.
And it certainly helps with being thrown into the heat of an intense Premier League title race and chasing trophies on four fronts.
“I think he has always been one to tell you to keep your confidence,” Kelleher said about Klopp. “No matter whatever happens, sometimes you might not have the best game or might not be feeling the best about your game. But he has always been a positive figure for me and always instilled such confidence in me that I’ve always kept that belief in myself. He’s really given me a lot of belief to keep your confidence all the time and believe in how good of a player you are.”
BRENTFORD, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Jurgen Klopp manager of Liverpool with Caoimhin Kelleher of Liverpool at the end of the Premier League match between Brentford FC and Liverpool FC at Brentford Community Stadium on February 17, 2024 in Brentford, England. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
With Klopp leaving Liverpool at the end of this season, Kelleher will be waving goodbye to the only manager he’s ever known. But he admitted the memories they’ve created together is something he will always look back on fondly.
He also said that Liverpool’s players have extra motivation to win as many trophies as possible to give Klopp the send-off he deserves.
“I think maybe a little bit there is that extra percent that we want to go on and give him the send-off he deserves,” Kelleher revealed. “From the start of the season we’ve had these objectives to try to win trophies this season. We know how good we are as a squad so I think that’s remained the same. We just want to keep doing well, keep taking it game-by-game and hopefully those trophies will come.”
After playing against Luton Kelleher is now eligible for a Premier League winners medal after reaching five appearances this season. His performance in those five games, plus in the run to the League Cup final and the Europa League last 16, have proven he is ready whenever Liverpool need him.
The Irishman has a tough task backing up the best goalkeeper in the world but it’s making him better and he will be a standout at Liverpool, or elsewhere, in the future.
