REPUBLIC of Ireland’s back-up ‘keeper Caoimhín Kelleher is hoping to leave Liverpool on-loan in January in a bid to fulfil his potential. The highly-rated 21-year-old revealed an injury to first-choice Alisson Becker in the summer denied him a move to Dutch football.
The Cork native has been named in the Ireland senior squad alongside West Ham United’s Darren Randolph and AFC Bournemouth’s Mark Travers for Thursday night’s friendly with England and upcoming Nations League games against Wales (a) and Bulgaria (h).
Kelleher has come through the ranks at Liverpool since joining in 2015 from local junior club Ringmahon Rangers, but first team appearances have been few and far between, and he's eager to gain first-team experience elsewhere.
“There were a few clubs interested, there was talk of going to Holland but an injury to Alisson at the wrong time killed anything for me,” said Kelleher on a Zoom call with journalists yesterday.
“We'll just review it and see what happens in the future. I wouldn’t say I’m frustrated. Of course, I want to play games as soon as possible. I’ve been patient. I have good patience. If January comes and I get out, that’s great. And if I don’t get out, I’m not going to blow up.”
Ireland manager Stephen Kenny had Kelleher during his U21 reign and revealed earlier this week goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly couldn’t believe just how good the youngster was having worked with him in training.
Asked if he’d read Kenny’s glowing appraisal, Kelleher said: “People would have sent them to me. It doesn’t make a difference to my confidence to be honest.
“I never really get confident from reading something like that. I know Stephen and the staff here are all honest and they’ll always let me know their thoughts that they have about me, so I knew all that stuff before reading anything like that. It’s obviously nice to hear and read, but I always have confidence without reading stuff like that.”
It is anticipated Kelleher will see some game-time over Ireland’s next three fixtures.
