Caoimhin Kelleher produced another iconic League Cup Final appearance as Liverpool nabbed a 118th-minute goal to beat Chelsea 1-0 and win the 2024 League Cup. Reminiscing about a young Caoimhin Kelleher after the game, former Liverpool star Daniel Sturridge joked about the banter they had and summed up his transformation from a youngster to today.
After the game, the 25-year-old Corkonian who started this afternoon's fixture was heralded by fans, teammates and pundits as being the 'match winner' and unfortunate to miss out on the MOTM award.
From the first whistle, Kelleher faced an onslaught of pressure from Chelsea, making several emphatic saves over the 120 minutes to keep the game scoreless before eventually warding off a few last-minute attempts from the London side to keep Liverpool ahead.
🛑CAOIMHÍN KELLEHER, WHAT A SAVE 🛑pic.twitter.com/t1K9F51E3u
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) February 25, 2024
While his brilliance had some regular pundits and fans alike surprised, former Liverpool star forward Daniel Sturridge never had any doubt about Caoimhin Kelleher's abilities.
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Daniel Sturridge sums up Caoimhin Kelleher's journey to League Cup heroics
Speaking on Sky Sports after the game former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge was reminiscing on the days of being a teammate of the Corkman. Kelleher joined Liverpool when in 2019, in Sturridge's last season at Anfield. Their careers were in completely different places but Sturridge confirmedhe''d have a bit of banter with Kelleher at the Liverpool training ground, telling his fellow pundits:
The goalkeeping coach used to send Kelleher across we used to have a bit of banter, we used to give him a bit you know, and to see him now.
You know I think when you see a guy and you've seen his ascension and now he's in the final starting being brilliant.
https://www.balls.ie/football/caoimhin-kelleher-daniel-sturridge-588935
When asked if he believed Caoimhin Kelleher could ever be this good, Sturridge left viewers in no doubt about his answer and revealed some fascinating insights into what Kelleher has changed to get to where he is today.
Honestly yes, he was a lot smaller then but he's bulked up quite a lot. His shot stopping is brilliant and he has a lot more command about him now. Whereas before you would've thought he was a little bit frail.
But now he's filled out he's got a huge amount of confidence in his own abilities as well and he made himself so big.
While the sentiments from Sturridge comes as no surprise to us Irish, they show the high regard even a young Kelleher was held in by his Liverpool teammates.
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