Cork-born goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher was Liverpool’s hero as they beat Chelsea 11-10 on penalties to win the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. Kelleher was magnificent in what was by far the biggest game of his career so far. The 23 year-old made a great save from Pulisic early on and then thwarted Lukaku with his legs. Both teams had goals ruled out by VAR. The game went to extra time, then to penalties and after all five penalties were converted it was sudden death. Kelleher, who played as a forward for his local club Ringmahon Rangers in Cork until he was 14, scored Liverpool’s 11th spot kick. His opposite number Kepa Arrizabalaga blasted over the bar. Kepa had been brought on at the end of extra time to replace Mendy in goal for Chelsea as the Spaniard is regarded as a good penalty taker, but he was the only one of 22 kickers to fail at the spot.It was Liverpool’s 9th League Cup final win, putting them top of the winners’ table, one ahead of Manchester City, who won the previous four finals under Pep Guardiola.
Irish international Matt Doherty got his first EPL goal for Spurs on Saturday as they beat struggling Leeds United 4-0 at Elland road. Earlier in the week it looked like Spurs Italian-born manager Antonio Conte was questioning himself and if he was up to the job, after a 1-0 away to defeat to struggling Burnley. Conte said: “I don’t want to comment on the game, only the situation. In the last five games we lost four times. This is the reality, it’s not about the performances. This is the reality. No one deserves this type of situation, the club, me, the players, the fans, but this is the reality .I came here to try to improve the situation in Tottenham but maybe in this moment I am not so good. For me it’s very frustrating because I know we are working a lot and trying to get the best of every single player, but this reality is this.’’ Maybe he changed his mind after the win over Leeds on Saturday.
Matt Doherty. INPHO/LASZLO GECZO
Meantime, Marcelo Bielsa who brought Leeds back to the big time after 17 years in the wilderness got the boot after a series of bad results. Former Red Bulls player and Wisconsin native Jesse Marsch is his replacement.
With Liverpool involved in the League Cup at Wembley, Manchester City beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison to stretch their lead at the top of the table to six points again. In midweek Liverpool’s 6-0 win over Leeds had reduced City’s lead at the top to three points. On Saturday Phil Foden scored in the 82nd minute as Manchester City secured a 1-0 victory away to a spirited Everton side, who were captained by Seamus Coleman. Everton thought they should have been awarded a penalty when the ball struck Rodri’s hand late on, but after consulting VAR the referee didn’t give a penalty. Captain Seamus Coleman led the Everton team out with Ukraine flags over their shoulders, while City also showed their support for Ukraine. Then Ukrainian players Oleksandr Zinchenko of City and Everton’s Vitaliy Mykolenko embraced each other in show of encouragement before the game.
Shane Long was a second half sub for Southampton, who beat Norwich 2-0 on Friday night to move up to 9th place. Manchester United hold on to 4th place in the table, despite a poor home performance against lowly Watford, which ended in a 0-0 draw.
TRAVERS IN FORM FOR BOURNEMOUTH
Bournemouth staged a dramatic recovery to beat Stoke 2-1 and stay in the automatic Championship promotion place, 9 points behind leaders Fulham. Stoke led through Tommy Smith after 20 minutes, and could have been further ahead but for the efforts of Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Mark Travers.
MCCABE SCORES IN RTE FIRST
A first for RTE Television at the weekend as the 5th round of the English Women’s FA Cup game between Liverpool and Arsenal was shown live on the national station’s news channel feed. Irish internationals Niamh Fahey and Leanne Kiernan both started for Liverpool and Megan Campbell was a second half sub. Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe scored Arsenal’s second goal with a spectacular volley and the Gunners went on to win 4-0.
PARIS TO HOST CHAMPIONS FINAL
Paris will host this season's Champions League final after the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to St Petersburg being stripped of its right to stage the match. The UEFA executive committee held an emergency meeting last Friday to discuss its response to the crisis and has opted to remove the showpiece match from the 68,000-capacity Gazprom Arena in Russia’s second-largest city. The final will now be played in Stade de France Stadium on May 28.
Meanwhile the FAI say they will continue to communicate on an ongoing basis with Government, UEFA and the Ukraine FAl with regards to the latest developments and the implications for the Ukraine vs Republic of Ireland fixture in the UEFA Nations League in June. It looks like the game in Dublin will go ahead on June 4, but our away game against Ukraine on June 14 will be played at a neutral venue, probably in Poland. Meanwhile Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden are say they not to play against Russia in a possible World Cup play-off because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. It now looks like Poland will play the winners of the Czech Republic/Sweden game to decide who will go to Qatar for the World Cup in November.
