Caoimhín Odhrán Kelleher (born 23 November 1998) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for club

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team.

Early life

Kelleher was born in Cork, County Cork, where he attended Presentation Brothers College.

Club career

Kelleher joined Liverpool's academy from Ringmahon Rangers in summer 2015. He featured regularly for Liverpool's side during their pre-season programme of 2018 and was part of the squad that travelled to the United States for Liverpool's summer tour. In August 2018, he signed a new contract with Liverpool. He was an unused substitute for the

2019 UEFA Champions League Final The 2019 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, the 64th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA and the 27th season since it was rebranded the UEFA Champions League. ...

against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

. In winning the Champions League, he became the 12th Irish footballer to do so and the first for over a decade. Though he was recovering from wrist surgery, Kelleher was on the bench for Liverpool's victory in the

2019 UEFA Super Cup The 2019 UEFA Super Cup was the 44th edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa Leag ...

against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

due to the absence of first-choice Alisson. He made his competitive debut for the club on 25 September 2019 in an EFL Cup Third Round match, keeping a clean sheet against

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side

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

, in a 2–0 away win. On 1 December 2020, he started and kept a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in the Champions League. Five days later, Kelleher was named in the starting line-up for a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

match against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. He kept a clean sheet in the match, a 4–0 win, which was his third consecutive shutout for the club. At 22 years and 13 days, Kelleher became the third-youngest Liverpool goalkeeper to keep a Premier League clean sheet and the youngest to do so on his first league start. After several strong performances, manager

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Liverpool. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. Klopp spent most of his playing ...

confirmed that Kelleher had been promoted to second choice, behind Alisson and ahead of Adrián. It was also reported that Liverpool were seeking to sign Kelleher to a new long-term contract on improved terms. On 24 June 2021, Kelleher signed a new long-term deal with the club until 2026, saying "For me, it was a positive moment to commit my future to the club for the next few years. It’s such a big club and it’s an honour to be a part of it, so when I got the chance to sign for a few more years I was obviously delighted." James Pearce, who covers Liverpool F.C. for

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said that it was "Reward for his impressive progress last season," and that he was now Alisson's Number 2. On 27 February 2022, Kelleher started in the

2022 EFL Cup Final The 2022 EFL Cup Final was the final of the 2021–22 EFL Cup. It was played between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 27 February 2022. The match saw no goals in the initial 90 minutes or the additional 30 minutes of ...

and scored the decisive penalty in the 11–10 penalty shoot-out win against

. On 9 November 2022, Kelleher made his first start of the 2022–23 season and saved three penalties in a 3–2 penalty shoot-out win against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

in the third round of the

2022–23 EFL Cup The 2022–23 EFL Cup is the 63rd season of the EFL Cup (known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons). The competition is open to all clubs participating in the Premier League and the English Football League. The winner of the competition ...

at Anfield. He has now saved a total of six penalties in four shootouts for Liverpool which is a club record. Four of his eight appearances in the EFL Cup have gone to penalties with Liverpool winning all of them.

International career

Kelleher featured for the Republic of Ireland U17s in the

2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (33rd edition if the Under-16 era was also included), the annual European youth football competition contested by the men's under-17 nation ...

. He was capped by his country at under-17 level in 2014, making his debut against Malta. He has also been capped at under-19 and under-21 level. On 6 November 2018, he was named in the senior

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

squad for the first time for the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

on 15 November and the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

match against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

on 19 November 2018. He was called up again by the senior national team in March 2019, whilst still part of the under-21s. On 8 June 2021, Kelleher made his senior Ireland debut, coming on as a half-time substitute against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

in a 0–0 draw. He was then included in the lineup for a friendly against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

in October 2021.

Personal life

Kelleher is the younger brother of fellow footballer, Fiacre Kelleher. He has three other older brothers who played hurling.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Liverpool *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2021–22 * EFL Cup: 2021–22 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

: 2018–19, runner-up: 2021–22 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelleher, Caoimhin 1998 births Living people Association footballers from Cork (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Association football goalkeepers Liverpool F.C. players Premier League players UEFA Champions League winning players Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Expatriate footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England