Ireland keeper Caoimhin Kelleher learning to deal with football’s highs and lows

Caoimhin Kelleher will deal with the disappointment of the Republic of Ireland’s Nations League defeat in Armenia just as he did with the rollercoaster emotions of Liverpool’s remarkable season.

The 23-year-old was beaten by Eduard Spertsyan’s long-range thunderbolt in Yerevan’s Republican Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Ireland’s campaign got off to the worst possible start.

But Kelleher, who starred in his club’s dramatic Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea and was on the bench for their FA Cup triumph against the same opposition, will not overreact, having also suffered the despair of missing out on the Premier League title and Champions League glory.

Asked what the season just ended has taught him about the vagaries of professional football, he said: “At club level, we won two trophies earlier on and then at the end of the season it wasn’t ideal.

“It taught me not to get too high on the highs and not too low on the lows, and stay on an even keel. It has given me good experiences to deal with situations like winning and coming down from a high and being on a low.”

Kelleher was the Reds’ hero at Wembley in February when he not only kept a clean sheet but also converted the decisive penalty in a nail-biting shoot-out.

He said: “Obviously it was a special moment for me. To win a cup with such a big club like Liverpool was obviously a great moment.

“When you do it once, you kind of want to do it again and again and get that feeling again. It’s given me great motivation to try to do it again and get those experiences again.”

For Kelleher, who revealed he is yet to make a decision on whether he stays at Anfield as a number two next season or seeks regular football elsewhere, the next focus is Ireland’s clash with