Ireland manager unaware of injury to Liverpool star Caoimhin Kelleher
Ireland manager Stephen Kelly, speaking to Belfast Telegraph, says he “wasn’t fully aware” about the injury situation surrounding Caoimhin Kelleher and that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp’s comments caught him off guard.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Klopp provided updates on Kelleher’s injury which was allegedly picked up during June’s international friendlies. This limited the player’s gametime this pre-season.
“Yeah, Caoimh felt something after the international game and everybody, the medical department there, told him it’s fine and will be good after holiday”
Speaking last Friday, Klopp gave Kelleher two-three weeks to recover. Contrary to this, Irishman Kelly said he would rather play Ireland’s second-choice keeper Mark Travers who “excelled in training camp” if Kelleher was not deemed to be fit to play.
He added that he would not risk playing Kelleher if he was injured and would have let him out of training.
If Caoimhín wasn’t right, I would have selected Mark with full confidence. That was a surprise to me to see that.
This casts doubt on whether the injury occurred during the international friendlies or prior to that, during The Reds’ quadruple charge towards the end of the season.
With Alisson Becker and Kelleher out, Adrian was in goal for most of the pre-season with young Harvey Davies earning a few minutes as well.
Kelleher is out due to a groin injury and will take a while to be back in the pecking order. The Irishman was an integral part of The Reds’ domestic success last season, playing pivotal roles in both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.
The 23-year-old scored Liverpool’s last penalty in the latter final before Chelsea goalie Kepa Arrizabalaga skied his spot kick to give The Merseysiders their ninth league cup win.
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Testing times for young Irishman Kelleher, who wants more game time and also needs to deal with injury situations. Nevertheless, he has been a commendable understudy to Alisson and Liverpool are in a good situation to be in where they have two excellent goalkeepers.
