Republic of Ireland: ‘I followed my instincts’ – Kelleher after saving the penalty

Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher said there are “many positives” after his penalty save helped the Republic of Ireland beat Finland 1-0 in their final Nations League home game.

An Evan Ferguson header gave the home team the lead in the first half before Kelleher saved Joel Pohjanpalo’s penalty after Ferguson was penalized for handball.

The Liverpool goalkeeper dived to his right to deny Pohjanpalo and also avoided Robin Lod’s rebound.

Finland had other opportunities to equalize the match and were denied by the woodwork twice before the break.

“Before I stepped forward, I looked at the preparation and followed my instincts and luckily I took the right path,” Kelleher told RTE Sport.

“Maybe in the first half we were also lucky at times. Two shots hit the post [for Finland] And also good defense, some good blocks that sometimes have to be made. Fortunately we also scored a great goal.

“Apart from the penalty, there weren’t many opportunities in the second half, so there are a lot of positives to take from that.”

With this victory, which was coach Heimir Hallgrimsson’s first at home, the Republic will finish third in the group and face a relegation play-off with a team from League C. It also guaranteed that Finland will be automatically relegated.

“As we have seen in recent years, maybe we would have drawn or lost [tonight] but it shows that the group is becoming closer and stronger,” Kelleher continued.

“We are managing the games which is important and at the end of the day the result is the most important thing and the clean sheet helps a lot.”

The Republic of Ireland will now travel to Wembley Stadium to take on England in their final match of the Nations League campaign on Sunday (17:00 GMT).