While Caoimhín Kelleher’s talent has been apparent for quite some time, it has been remarkable to see the Ireland man’s development over the last few seasons.
The Cork man was an impressive backup goalkeeper at Liverpool, playing a large part in their title winning campaign last season. He has also firmly established himself as Ireland’s no.1 and has been the team’s most consistent performer over the last 12 months or so.
Kelleher is only likely to go from strength to strength after his move to Brentford during the summer, having performed brilliantly under Keith Andrews so far this season. That continued last weekend when he saved a penalty to help the team to a victory over Wolves.
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Nobody has saved more penalties in Europe’s top five leagues this season than Caoimhín Odhrán Kelleher 🐐 pic.twitter.com/MvLla4t8ou
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) December 21, 2025
His three penalty saves this season are more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues.
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Keith Andrews Explains Ireland Star’s Remarkable Penalty Record
Caoimhín Kelleher is set to play a big role for Brentford over the festive period, with games against Bournemouth, Spurs, and Everton on the horizon.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s meeting with Andoni Iraola’s side, Keith Andrews summed up the ability that the Ireland star has developed when it comes to stopping opposition penalties.
He’s got a real advantage, the players taking penalties, he is in the penalty-takers’ heads at this stage that they know he’s a top goalkeeper.
It’s not like in years gone by, when there’s a penalty, you are nearly accepting that it’s going to be a goal, it’s far from that now when there’s a penalty against us now, he does have that knack, for sure.
He’s produced big moments. He did give away the penalty on Saturday [Wolves], I did remind him of that, that he owed us and I’ve been delighted with him around the place, his growth.
When he was at Liverpool before and he had to come in ‘cold’ to play games, that didn’t faze him, he has that type of temperament, he’s a pretty cool young man. He is growing weekly, I would say, in his stature and presence. He’s never been a No 1 before, really.
So to come in and, firstly, understand the club and how we want to play, then build those relationships with his defenders, obviously he knows Nathan [Collins] a little bit better than the others.
He has been a really good purchase for the club, it was done before I was the head coach. I’d met him when he came down, we presented it to him, what the club was about and I felt it would be a really good move for him, it was a really shrewd bit of business by the club.
Caoimhín Kelleher has an excellent record when it comes to saving opposition penalties, something that stretches back to his time at Liverpool. The 27-year old was particularly useful in penalty shootouts.
Should Ireland go to penalties in their World Cup play-off in March, it will certainly help having Kelleher on their side.
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