Uefa Nations League Group 2B: Republic of Ireland v Greece (tonight, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm)
SELF-BELIEF has never been an issue for Caoimhin Kelleher as he faced a barrage of familiar questions about his Liverpool future yesterday – but the Cork man has exactly the same confidence in his Ireland team-mates to bounce back from the England defeat as they host Greece in Dublin tonight.
While the Republic of Ireland continue to struggle to find form on the international stage, the 25-year-old goalkeeper is confident they can turn their fortunes around against the Greeks in their second Uefa Nations League tie.
“Within the squad, we definitely have a lot of belief and confidence in ourselves,” said Kelleher, who performed heroically against the English on Saturday.
“Maybe the start we had on Saturday didn’t help. Conceding early on in the game maybe dents the confidence.
“It was going to be an uphill battle against England, [finishing] second in the European Championships, obviously a squad full of great players…
“But, definitely, within this squad I know the quality, I see it every day when we are training, how good this squad is, we have confidence in ourselves and if we get a good result against Greece that will give us even more confidence and then we can push on and do well in this group.”
Alongside Chiedozie Ogbene, Kelleher was Ireland’s top performer on Saturday, pulling off a string of brilliant saves to deny a host of England attackers including Antony Gordon, Harry Kane and Jarrod Bowen late in the game.
The fact that he doesn’t play as often as he would like at Liverpool hasn’t dented his confidence in being able to perform at a high level when called upon.
Kelleher, a two-time Carabao Cup winner with the Reds and has been with the club since 2015, covered for number one Alisson last season after the Brazilian suffered a hamstring injury, and made 26 appearances.
He was linked with a move away in January and then again during the summer, when Nottingham Forest reportedly had a series of bids rejected.
“I think I have always been confident in my ability to perform, when given the opportunity,” said Kelleher, despite his scant first-team appearances over the last number of seasons.
“I always train to a high standard, I am always professional, prepare correctly whether I am playing or not.
“If you take those attributes, you’ll always have a good chance of playing, so I am always confident even if I am not playing regularly at club level, that I have the ability and I am capable enough of putting in good performances when I play.”
Clearly, though, Kelleher wants to be number one at club level and realises that it probably won’t be at his beloved Liverpool following their recruitment of Georgia’s Euro 2024 star Giorgi Mamardashvili.
“I made it clear in the last few years I want to go be a number one and play week in, week out,” he said.
“The club made the decision to get another goalkeeper. From the outside looking in, it looks like they have made a decision to go in another direction.”
He added: “There were some bids rejected in the summer, I don’t know if that will get revisited in January… Those discussions need to be had in the coming months but for the next few months I will be committed to Liverpool.”
With Southampton ‘keeper Gavin Bazunu sidelined with an Achilles injury until next year, Kelleher can nail down the number one spot with Ireland under Heimir Hallgrimsson – if he hasn’t done so already – in this Uefa Nations League campaign.
Ireland host Greece tonight, a side that twice swept aside Stephen Kenny’s men in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
And with now a new manager at the helm, Kelleher has urged patience as the Irish try to erase Saturday’s poor performance against England.
“There will be a change when a new boss comes in; he’s come in with some new ideas but it’s such a short space of time, his first camp but we also need to use the basis of what we have been doing in the last few camps with John [O’Shea] and Paddy [McCarthy].
“It takes time to adapt to new ideas, but we are working hard to work on his new ideas.”
