IN A GLITTERING Irish sporting year, Caoimhín Kelleher belongs in the firmament.
Gavin Bazunu’s achilles injury has allowed Kelleher establish himself as Ireland’s number one, while Alisson Becker’s repeated hamstring problems has allowed Kelleher play 28 games for Liverpool across the calendar year.
It is a stretch under two different managers which includes another star turn in a victorious Carabao Cup final, nine clean sheets, and two penalty saves, one of which was from Kylian Mbappe in a long-awaited Champions League victory against Real Madrid.
Kelleher saves Kylian Mbappe's penalty in a Champions League tie last month. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Given there are only a handful of sides on the planet with a claim to be better than Liverpool right now, Kelleher has this year proved he is comfortable operating at the highest level of the most competitive sport in the world.
The stats back it up. FBRef judge goalkeepers by comparing their number of goals conceded with the number of goals they are expected to concede.
Their means of doing it is by using a stat called post-shot expected goals, which takes into account the trajectory and quality of the shot a goalkeeper faces along with the position from which it’s taken. (Expected Goals measures only the location of the shot.)
Kelleher ranks a highly respectable sixth in the Premier League on this metric. His only problem is the guy rated at number one: Alisson.
Manager Arne Slot has been clear that Alisson remains first-choice at Liverpool, but the future pecking order is muddied by Liverpool’s signing of 24-year-old Georgia ‘keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who will join next summer.
All signs point to Kelleher’s exit from Liverpool next summer, however, when he will have only one year remaining on his contract.
Where Alisson was briefed by Liverpool in advance of the signing of Mamardashvili, it seemed to catch Kelleher by surprise. “From the outside looking in, it looks like they have made a decision to go in another direction”, Kelleher told the Irish media in September during the international break.
The FAI rarely have players clamouring to fulfil media obligations during international windows, but Kelleher let it be known he would be happy to speak. He then accentuated the fact he wants to be a first-choice goalkeeper, saying his future is “not always in his hands”, indirectly bridling at those who criticised him for a supposed lack of ambition in not having left Liverpool by now.
Kelleher’s appetite for a move is further evident in the fact he changed his agent during the summer, but Liverpool did not receive a bid commensurate with his value. Nottingham Forest’s reported bid of £7 million plus American ‘keeper Matt Turner was rejected.
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To put it more plainly, this was the year that Caoimhín Kelleher became more valuable to Liverpool than Liverpool were to him.
“Nobody has missed Alisson and that is unbelievable credit to him”, says John Achterberg, who served as Liverpool’s goalkeeper coach from 2011 up to this summer, at which point he left with Jurgen Klopp.
“If you have the best goalkeeper in the world and no supporters moan that the number two is playing, you have done an amazing job.”
Kelleher’s Liverpool career begins with the fact he might have gone to Manchester United instead. Kelleher played a trial academy game for United when he was 15, of which Liverpool got wind. Academy goalkeeper coach Mark Morris was sent along. He was sufficiently impressed to invite Kelleher to a training session at Liverpool. Achterberg went to watch, and saw a physically slight goalkeeper show the benefits of spending one’s formative years as a striker.
Kelleher initially played up front for Ringmahon Rangers, but his life changed when goalkeeper Robbie O’Leary – who was playing an age-grade up as his Dad was the coach – decided he had enough after an 8-1 hammering to Ballincollig U14s.
“I was getting a lot of stick off the boys and I was like, ‘Fuck this’”, O’Leary told The42 in 2022. “I quit that team and just played at my own age.”
Achterberg was soon marvelling at Kelleher’s athleticism, mobility, and comfort with the ball at his feet.
“Only lacking was really a bit of technical goalkeeping skills and positional play and obviously his height was not there at that moment”, recalls Achterberg. “But because he was really cheap, it was worth taking the chance, and obviously the rest is history.
(Ringmahon do stand to profit if Kelleher moves on next summer – they will be owed 20% of the transfer fee.)
Liverpool then put Kelleher to work. He had a lot of gym work to do to build strength and core stability, all the while developing technical skill. Achterberg promoted him to first-team training within 18 months, along with another goalkeeper his age, Kamil Grabara.
As Kelleher was playing for Ireland at U17 level, Grabara represented Poland at the same age-group. Grabara, however, was an earlier physical developer. When Grabara was 6′ 4″, estimates Achterberg, Kelleher was still 5′ 11″.
“I always said to him, you are a lot more mobile and athletic than Grabara, you could overtake him if you keep working hard,” says Achterberg.
Perhaps because of his physical development, Grabara went out on loan in January 2019, whereas Kelleher stayed. (He has gone on to put together a solid career: he played more than 150 times for Copenhagen, and is now at Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.)
Achterberg then had another target for which Kelleher could reach.
“I saw his progress and I told him before he started that he was better than David De Gea, but he was playing for Man United and he just needed to get the chance.”
Klopp has spoken about making Liverpool “a proper goalkeeping school in world football”, in which the club would “build our own philosophy in goalkeeping.”
Liverpool goalkeepers Kelleher, Adrian, and Alisson Becker with coaches John Achterberg (second from right) and Jack Robinson after the 2022 FA Cup final win. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Kelleher made the most of the quality of Liverpool’s education.
They taught him how to deal with one-on-one situations: when and how to stay tall and not go to ground too early, and when and how to close the striker’s angle without gambling and steaming out too quickly; shot stopping from central positions and from every other angle; the right timing on when to come for crosses; distribution, particularly off his left foot; how to dive for shots, with his head and shoulders forward and his legs controlled, rather than kicking forward into his body; and communication with his defenders, which, Achterberg says, has vastly improved but could be better still.
Achterberg says Kelleher also soaked up information from his competitors: from Simon Mignolet he learned more about professionalism, from gym work to diet; from Alisson he learned more about training speed, reactions, and movement.
“He was on it everyday,” says Achterberg. “He is down to earth and very humble, and that was really good. He has a good background, his Mum is always there for him, his brother plays football, he has a steady girlfriend, and he is pretty calm in his mind. We always spoke to the goalies about what’s important on and off the field, but he is a smart boy, and he knew it already.”
Kelleher was also hungry for work. On the eve of the 2022 Carabao Cup final, he asked to practise taking a couple of penalties, just in case a spot kick would fall to his feet in the shootout. And so it proved, as he converted what proved to be the decisive kick. (Though the value of the practice was dubious: Kelleher changed his mind as to where he was going to put the penalty during his run-up.)
Some of Kelleher’s skills, it must be said, are innate. Shortly after Kelleher saved Mbappe’s penalty last month, Achterberg texted me to say, “his reaction speeds are insane!”
Kelleher was third choice during Liverpool’s title-winning season of 2019/20, behind Alisson and Adrian. Liverpool fans might have cause to rue the fact Klopp was not more impressed with him earlier, as an Adrian clanger contributed to a careless Champions League knockout defeat to Atletico Madrid in a season in which Liverpool were the best team in Europe.
Former Ireland manager Stephen Kenny revealed Kelleher was close to a loan move to the Netherlands at the end of that season, but an injury to Alisson saw him retained. He then ascended to second-choice at Liverpool, and signed a contract extension in the summer of 2021, a couple of weeks after making his senior Irish debut against Hungary.
Kelleher on the night of his Irish senior debut, against Hungary in 2021. Attila Trenka / INPHO
Attila Trenka / INPHO / INPHO
There has been bewilderment at Liverpool that Kelleher was not immediately first-choice for Ireland, but they did not grant him the regular first-team football that gave Gavin Bazunu the edge in Stephen Kenny’s eyes.
It is looking increasingly unlikely that Kelleher will ever be granted that status at Liverpool, but he has more than repaid the club’s investment in him. Kelleher’s reward is a pretty irresistible skillset.
“He probably feels he is a Premier League goalie”, says Achterberg. “I don’t think there are many teams apart from Liverpool where he would not be number one. I would take him to any club as number one.”
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'I would take him to any club as No 1' - How Kelleher became too good to be Alisson's backup
IN A GLITTERING Irish sporting year, Caoimhín Kelleher belongs in the firmament.
Gavin Bazunu’s achilles injury has allowed Kelleher establish himself as Ireland’s number one, while Alisson Becker’s repeated hamstring problems has allowed Kelleher play 28 games for Liverpool across the calendar year.
It is a stretch under two different managers which includes another star turn in a victorious Carabao Cup final, nine clean sheets, and two penalty saves, one of which was from Kylian Mbappe in a long-awaited Champions League victory against Real Madrid.
Given there are only a handful of sides on the planet with a claim to be better than Liverpool right now, Kelleher has this year proved he is comfortable operating at the highest level of the most competitive sport in the world.
The stats back it up. FBRef judge goalkeepers by comparing their number of goals conceded with the number of goals they are expected to concede.
Their means of doing it is by using a stat called post-shot expected goals, which takes into account the trajectory and quality of the shot a goalkeeper faces along with the position from which it’s taken. (Expected Goals measures only the location of the shot.)
Kelleher ranks a highly respectable sixth in the Premier League on this metric. His only problem is the guy rated at number one: Alisson.
Manager Arne Slot has been clear that Alisson remains first-choice at Liverpool, but the future pecking order is muddied by Liverpool’s signing of 24-year-old Georgia ‘keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, who will join next summer.
All signs point to Kelleher’s exit from Liverpool next summer, however, when he will have only one year remaining on his contract.
Where Alisson was briefed by Liverpool in advance of the signing of Mamardashvili, it seemed to catch Kelleher by surprise. “From the outside looking in, it looks like they have made a decision to go in another direction”, Kelleher told the Irish media in September during the international break.
The FAI rarely have players clamouring to fulfil media obligations during international windows, but Kelleher let it be known he would be happy to speak. He then accentuated the fact he wants to be a first-choice goalkeeper, saying his future is “not always in his hands”, indirectly bridling at those who criticised him for a supposed lack of ambition in not having left Liverpool by now.
Kelleher’s appetite for a move is further evident in the fact he changed his agent during the summer, but Liverpool did not receive a bid commensurate with his value. Nottingham Forest’s reported bid of £7 million plus American ‘keeper Matt Turner was rejected.
To put it more plainly, this was the year that Caoimhín Kelleher became more valuable to Liverpool than Liverpool were to him.
“Nobody has missed Alisson and that is unbelievable credit to him”, says John Achterberg, who served as Liverpool’s goalkeeper coach from 2011 up to this summer, at which point he left with Jurgen Klopp.
“If you have the best goalkeeper in the world and no supporters moan that the number two is playing, you have done an amazing job.”
Kelleher’s Liverpool career begins with the fact he might have gone to Manchester United instead. Kelleher played a trial academy game for United when he was 15, of which Liverpool got wind. Academy goalkeeper coach Mark Morris was sent along. He was sufficiently impressed to invite Kelleher to a training session at Liverpool. Achterberg went to watch, and saw a physically slight goalkeeper show the benefits of spending one’s formative years as a striker.
Kelleher initially played up front for Ringmahon Rangers, but his life changed when goalkeeper Robbie O’Leary – who was playing an age-grade up as his Dad was the coach – decided he had enough after an 8-1 hammering to Ballincollig U14s.
“I was getting a lot of stick off the boys and I was like, ‘Fuck this’”, O’Leary told The42 in 2022. “I quit that team and just played at my own age.”
Achterberg was soon marvelling at Kelleher’s athleticism, mobility, and comfort with the ball at his feet.
“Only lacking was really a bit of technical goalkeeping skills and positional play and obviously his height was not there at that moment”, recalls Achterberg. “But because he was really cheap, it was worth taking the chance, and obviously the rest is history.
(Ringmahon do stand to profit if Kelleher moves on next summer – they will be owed 20% of the transfer fee.)
Liverpool then put Kelleher to work. He had a lot of gym work to do to build strength and core stability, all the while developing technical skill. Achterberg promoted him to first-team training within 18 months, along with another goalkeeper his age, Kamil Grabara.
As Kelleher was playing for Ireland at U17 level, Grabara represented Poland at the same age-group. Grabara, however, was an earlier physical developer. When Grabara was 6′ 4″, estimates Achterberg, Kelleher was still 5′ 11″.
“I always said to him, you are a lot more mobile and athletic than Grabara, you could overtake him if you keep working hard,” says Achterberg.
Perhaps because of his physical development, Grabara went out on loan in January 2019, whereas Kelleher stayed. (He has gone on to put together a solid career: he played more than 150 times for Copenhagen, and is now at Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.)
Achterberg then had another target for which Kelleher could reach.
“I saw his progress and I told him before he started that he was better than David De Gea, but he was playing for Man United and he just needed to get the chance.”
Klopp has spoken about making Liverpool “a proper goalkeeping school in world football”, in which the club would “build our own philosophy in goalkeeping.”
Kelleher made the most of the quality of Liverpool’s education.
They taught him how to deal with one-on-one situations: when and how to stay tall and not go to ground too early, and when and how to close the striker’s angle without gambling and steaming out too quickly; shot stopping from central positions and from every other angle; the right timing on when to come for crosses; distribution, particularly off his left foot; how to dive for shots, with his head and shoulders forward and his legs controlled, rather than kicking forward into his body; and communication with his defenders, which, Achterberg says, has vastly improved but could be better still.
Achterberg says Kelleher also soaked up information from his competitors: from Simon Mignolet he learned more about professionalism, from gym work to diet; from Alisson he learned more about training speed, reactions, and movement.
“He was on it everyday,” says Achterberg. “He is down to earth and very humble, and that was really good. He has a good background, his Mum is always there for him, his brother plays football, he has a steady girlfriend, and he is pretty calm in his mind. We always spoke to the goalies about what’s important on and off the field, but he is a smart boy, and he knew it already.”
Kelleher was also hungry for work. On the eve of the 2022 Carabao Cup final, he asked to practise taking a couple of penalties, just in case a spot kick would fall to his feet in the shootout. And so it proved, as he converted what proved to be the decisive kick. (Though the value of the practice was dubious: Kelleher changed his mind as to where he was going to put the penalty during his run-up.)
Some of Kelleher’s skills, it must be said, are innate. Shortly after Kelleher saved Mbappe’s penalty last month, Achterberg texted me to say, “his reaction speeds are insane!”
Kelleher was third choice during Liverpool’s title-winning season of 2019/20, behind Alisson and Adrian. Liverpool fans might have cause to rue the fact Klopp was not more impressed with him earlier, as an Adrian clanger contributed to a careless Champions League knockout defeat to Atletico Madrid in a season in which Liverpool were the best team in Europe.
Former Ireland manager Stephen Kenny revealed Kelleher was close to a loan move to the Netherlands at the end of that season, but an injury to Alisson saw him retained. He then ascended to second-choice at Liverpool, and signed a contract extension in the summer of 2021, a couple of weeks after making his senior Irish debut against Hungary.
There has been bewilderment at Liverpool that Kelleher was not immediately first-choice for Ireland, but they did not grant him the regular first-team football that gave Gavin Bazunu the edge in Stephen Kenny’s eyes.
It is looking increasingly unlikely that Kelleher will ever be granted that status at Liverpool, but he has more than repaid the club’s investment in him. Kelleher’s reward is a pretty irresistible skillset.
“He probably feels he is a Premier League goalie”, says Achterberg. “I don’t think there are many teams apart from Liverpool where he would not be number one. I would take him to any club as number one.”
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Caoimhin Kelleher graduate student Liverpool Soccer