Caoimhin Kelleher sends timely reminder to Arne Slot with latest Ireland heroics

Caoimhin Kelleher against Joel Pahjanpalo to preserve Ireland's narrow 1-0 UEFA Nations League victory over Finland.

His strong performance comes as he continues to deputize for starting Liverpool goalkeeper at club level. The Brazilian international is following the international break, .

Alisson will almost certainly retain his starting spot ahead of . The 32-year-old was awarded the 2019 Yashin Trophy - given to the best goalkeeper in the world - and has twice featured in the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season. He's missed the last month of the season with a lingering hamstring injury.

Kelleher is doing everything he can to give Alisson a run for his money. The current Liverpool #1 made four saves in his 19th cap for his nation as Ireland clinched third place in Nations League B Group 2 and avoided relegation to League C.

The 25-year-old is now up to 19 caps for Ireland. After being part of a goalkeeping competition with Southampton's Gavin Buzunu, Kelleher has seemed to make the spot his and his only.

“I looked at the run-up and then," postgame regarding the penalty. "Thankfully, I went the right way."

Pohjanpalo is generally clinical from the spot. The Finnish striker has converted 14 of his 17 career penalties at club level, including two of three this campaign for Venezia in Serie A.

Ireland went ahead thanks to Evan Ferguson's 45th-minute finish. The young Brighton forward is now up to three goals in 19 career international fixtures.

"In the first half, we rode our luck at times," Kelleher continued. "They had two off the post, and we had some good blocks as well. In the second half, other than the penalty, we defended well.

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"Maybe in the last few years, we would have drawn or lost, but it definitely shows that the group is getting stronger, and we’re managing games as well," he said. "At the end of the day, the result is the most important thing and clean sheets go a long way to helping that."

Liverpool legend today about Slot's goalkeeping headache. "Caoimhin Kelleher has been magnificent and I actually think Arne Slot has got a really big decision to make in the next few weeks. Once Alisson is fit, I don’t think it’s fair if Kelleher gets demoted to the bench," Aldridge wrote.

"It’s sleepless nights because football always used to be that if you were scoring goals, you stayed in the team. If you’re keeping clean sheets, you stay in the team."