Caoimhín Kelleher GK Brentford b.1998

[Eirambler]

Not getting much protection from his defence today in the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool look surprisingly off it. Probably as well for them that they're 12 points clear in the league because they're not looking in great form right now.

[SkStu]

Maybe could have done better with the first but it was well placed. No chance for the second and pulled off a great stop to prevent Newcastle going three up. He�s done ok overall, all things considered.

[pineapple stu]

Liverpool looking like a team that's already on the beach today - 3-1 down away to Fulham at halftime. Liverpool's defenders in particular not helping Kelleher, who did at least keep a clean sheet midweek against Everton

[rebelmusic]

Yeah he made a couple of decent saves. Nothing he could do about the first two. The third he probably couldn't have done much either but it doesn't look the best. His distribution was middling I'd say. Some good counter work but a lot of his clearances landed on Fulham heads

[Jolly Red Giant]

Yeah he made a couple of decent saves. Nothing he could do about the first two. The third he probably couldn't have done much either but it doesn't look the best. His distribution was middling I'd say. Some good counter work but a lot of his clearances landed on Fulham heads
Brian Kerr made the point in radio commentary that Kelleher likes to take a little time to survey what to do when he has the ball - and Kerr indicated that Liverpool needed the distribution a lot faster today, particularly in the second half.

[rebelmusic]

Yeah the few times he got things going fast Liverpool looked very dangerous, spot on from Kerr. I think Kelleher is too aware he's in the shop window and after the mistake he made in his last run before Xmas he does seem to be playing overly cautious.

The defence was brutal today though. Arguably all 3 Fulham goals were giveaways

[elatedscum]

Possibly his last ever game for Liverpool�

20th game on the season for Liverpool (along with 8 for Ireland). Pretty good season all things considered - vital to their eventual premier league win - played in another cup final and clocked up more champions league appearances.

[Joxerbrowne]

Possibly his last ever game for Liverpool�

20th game on the season for Liverpool (along with 8 for Ireland). Pretty good season all things considered - vital to their eventual premier league win - played in another cup final and clocked up more champions league appearances.
He will almost certainly get a few more at the end when the league is wrapped up.

[samhaydenjr]

I know you can't really blame him for any of the goals conceded, but I would have liked to have seen him save at least one. Leno made a couple of big saves that probably won the game for Fulham. I'd like to see that a bit more from Kelleher

[elatedscum]

Ah he had 2 good saves. He had the dive to his right late on and had the 1v1 he pounced on earlier in the game.

He also handled corners really well. Had a couple of ones that he caught and had one he punched really well

[Eirambler]

A little bit of unwanted history likely to be put to bed today with Kelleher becoming our first player for 14 years to win a Premier League title (he might have a medal from their last win but he didn't play a minute in the League that season).

Having played 900 minutes in the league it's fair to say this is more than just a squad goalkeeper picking up a winners medal based on the performances of others, with Allison's issues throughout the season he has earned this on merit with his performances.

[Eirambler]

He will almost certainly get a few more at the end when the league is wrapped up.

In keeping with his time at Liverpool as a whole, this did not happen.

[third policeman]

Played an important role for Liverpool this season and deservedly part of celebrations today picking up Premier League medal. Bet he wishes he was playing in the Championship or the Belgian League. Will get his move and no doubt will have a great career somewhere, but I doubt it will be as memorable as winning the PL with Liverpool.

[tetsujin1979]

Linked with Aston villa, to replace Martinez, and Leverkusen, as part of a transfer deal for Wirtz, in the last few days

[third policeman]

Leverkusen would be a great move for him.

[liamoo11]

Played an important role for Liverpool this season and deservedly part of celebrations today picking up Premier League medal. Bet he wishes he was playing in the Championship or the Belgian League. Will get his move and no doubt will have a great career somewhere, but I doubt it will be as memorable as winning the PL with Liverpool.

Exactly this. What a time at Liverpool he has to look back on. Laughable to think 50 games a season for Fulham will ever bring the same sense of achievement. Well done Caoimhin .

[Kingdom]

To be very fair to Kelleher and how much he played, didn't play, should've played etc... given how pivotal Allison has been, given how everyone else was crumbling when he got injured, Kelleher's relative stablility in that time was absolutely crucial to Liverpool grabbing the race by the scruff of the neck.
For that the lad deserves all the plaudits.

He can take whatever next step he likes with confidence that he's earned it.

[EalingGreen]

Lots of talk about Brentford being interested in CK to replace Flekken, who's going back to Germany (Leverkusen) Dunno how much weight to give this Kelleher talk, but he certainly fits the profile Brentford look for, while the club has built an excellent relationship with Liverpool in recent years. Would be a very good move for the player himself, too.

[pineapple stu]

Looks like he's agreed a move to Brentford

https://www.skysports.com/transfer/news/12691/13377791/liverpool-transfer-news-kelleher-update

Decent start to the summer transfer window

[seanfhear]

I hope it all works out for the young man. Seems like a good move.

[Razors left peg]

Great move for him, looking forward to seeing him playing every week now. Hes 27 in November so he was definitely creeping into that Jesse Lingard "young player" type territory. Its well past time he was 1st choice somewhere

[joey B]

Ringmahon Rangers scooping 3 million euro from the deal aswell which is brilliant.....

[Razors left peg]

Ringmahon Rangers scooping 3 million euro from the deal aswell which is brilliant.....

That seems like a lot for just a 15 million quid move?

[joey B]

That seems like a lot for just a 15 million quid move?

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-41643946.html

John Fallon has it as a 20% sell on clause.....

[Razors left peg]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-41643946.html

John Fallon has it as a 20% sell on clause.....

Fair play to them, surprised that Liverpool agreed to a 20% sell on clause, or didn't buy that out years ago.

But it's also Fallon so.......

[Rayzor]

Ringmahon Rangers scooping 3 million euro from the deal aswell which is brilliant.....

To be fair, they are producing some decent players for us, Kelleher, Alan Browne, the Umeh brothers and Otegbayo at Sheffield Wednesday all started there. Strange that absolute no players are coming through at northside clubs in cork, can't think of any player capped since Roy Keane.

[joey B]

6 year contract for him at Brentford, hopefully a successful period for him…

[elatedscum]

no idea how true it is, but heard liverpool have a buy-back clause kicking in after 2 years (when Alisson's contract expires) and again a year later.

[Razors left peg]

no idea how true it is, but heard liverpool have a buy-back clause kicking in after 2 years (when Alisson's contract expires) and again a year later.

Might explain why he was allowed to leave so cheap

[seanfhear]

BBC ~ Saying a 5 year deal with a 1 year extension option after the 5 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cgq3knqeje5o

[SkStu]

Might explain why he was allowed to leave so cheap

didn't he only have 12 months left on his contract? I think its a decent price with that in mind.

[Rayzor]

BBC ~ Saying a 5 year deal with a 1 year extension option after the 5 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cgq3knqeje5o

Think it's a good move for him. They seem very patient with new signings. Both Collins and Flekken had ropey starts and they continued to play them.

[seanfhear]

Think it's a good move for him. They seem very patient with new signings. Both Collins and Flekken had ropey starts and they continued to play them.Yes ~ ~ And every player can do with some lucky breaks when joining a new club.

[Razors left peg]

didn't he only have 12 months left on his contract? I think its a decent price with that in mind.

Dont be letting logic get in the way of a good conspiracy theory, you know better than that !!

[elatedscum]

I kinda think both are true. The fee was surprisingly low. That was in part reflected by the fact he had a year left on his deal. Saying that, given the number of teams allegedly interested in him, I certainly would have expected the fee to rise. Liverpool got the same initial fee for Danny Ward about 5 years ago who also had a year left on his deal.

Liverpool for example paid £35m (raising to £40m) for Alex Oxlade Chamberlain 8 years ago with 10 months left on his contract. Two summers ago, United paid £55m for Mount (rising to £60m) with a year left on his contract.

Honestly if you’d have asked me to guess the fee in advance, I’d have said probably £20-25m with either a sell on clause or another £5-10m in add ons. (There were rumours of Chelsea paying £40m which always felt very high).

[seanfhear]

Chelsea would probably by me, or any foot.ie poster for around £20 million !

[nigel-harps1954]

Easy to forget he's only ever played 25 league games in his career. I think they done well to get that sort of fee for a still largely inexperienced goalkeeper given he had one year left on his contract and isn't exactly a kid anymore.

[pineapple stu]

Shouldn't matter what the fee is anyway. It's how he plays in the coming season that matters. (I'm assuming he's going straight in as first choice of course)

[Razors left peg]

Shouldn't matter what the fee is anyway. It's how he plays in the coming season that matters. (I'm assuming he's going straight in as first choice of course)
If hes not guaranteed to be 1st choice going into the start of the season he might as well just pack up his gloves

[pineapple stu]

Oh completely agree (within the bounds of acceptable hyperbole) - but don't want to be accused of jinxing things!

[SkStu]

“World Cup qualification trump card.”

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c5y6z613m49o

[Eirambler]

Kelleher is an injury doubt for Brentford's Premier League opener this weekend.

[pineapple stu]

Starts anyway, but the first shot he faces goes in. 1-0 Forest after 9 minutes.

Very early days of course. But still a feeling this one could be a pointer to how Brentford do this season with the Farke/Andrews change.

[rebelmusic]

Had a look at the goals and there was little he could do for any of them. From the stats he made a couple of saves as well. Hopefully won't dent his confidence too much. Forest are a very good team so I wouldn't read too much into today although Andrews is going to be on the back foot from the get go unfortunately

[liamoo11]

Had a look at the goals and there was little he could do for any of them. From the stats he made a couple of saves as well. Hopefully won't dent his confidence too much. Forest are a very good team so I wouldn't read too much into today although Andrews is going to be on the back foot from the get go unfortunately

The joys of playing for a team whose aim is just survival. No one really cares Unlike when he got his small enough numbers of games where the whole football world is watching. 50 games a season where really your side is just an also ran or 15 games a season for a genuine contender like Liverpool ?

[Eirambler]

That's fine if you're getting 15-20 games - but a lot of those seasons he didn't, last season was an outlier. Was it two or three seasons ago that he made his season debut in the league on the final day?

I thought he was maybe a step out of position for one of the goals today (the first I think) - he was quite near his left hand post and the ball went in quite centrally. Collins was done by a brilliant through ball for the third.

[ifk101]

Yeah, could have been more centrally positioned for the first, maybe could have done more to push Wood wide for the third. Had a few loose kicks and flapped a bit on crosses. Tough season ahead. Thought Collins had a poor game, feels like his performance level drops with the captaincy distraction.

[elatedscum]

That's fine if you're getting 15-20 games - but a lot of those seasons he didn't, last season was an outlier. Was it two or three seasons ago that he made his season debut in the league on the final day?

I thought he was maybe a step out of position for one of the goals today (the first I think) - he was quite near his left hand post and the ball went in quite centrally. Collins was done by a brilliant through ball for the third.

In fairness, he played 20 games last season and 26 the season before. Overall he was very unlucky regarding timing injuries. He missed games he would have played due to injury. If I remember correctly there were 7 games he would have played where the third choice keeper played and a handful where Alisson came back from injury early cause he picked up a knock. Meanwhile he missed less games when he would have been on the bench, even though he spent more time on the bench than starting. He also would have played 9 games if it weren't for Covid as a third choice. Both Alisson and Adrian had 3 month injuries which would have ruled them out for the rest of the season. Finally, the season before he became first choice was another where the second keeper was used a lot (18 games) and the start of the next season (5 of first 8 games before Kelleher took his place).

Regarding yesterday - he was unlucky with the Wood goal. If you look back at it, he gets there he's gonna palm it away and Wood accidentally trods on the ball with the outside of his left boot as he shifts it across from right to left. That causes the ball to bounce in the air over Kelleher's arm - but Kelleher does everything right. Overall though, confidence wise, I'd much rather Kelleher playing 20+ games a season at Liverpool which he done since he became Ireland No.1 than a possibly humbling season at Brentford.

[Stuttgart88]

I think he had a split second to quickly adjust his position for the first but stayed in what was really no man's land. Of course shifting two/three steps right would have left him vulnerable to a ball going back to his left but he had a defender on that side. A very marginal entry in the "might have done better" ledger.