Liverpool send MILLIONS to tiny amateur side from Cork that has hit the transfer jackpot

Robin Bairner

Updated: 7 Jun 2025 16:00 BST
4 min read

Liverpool will send €3 million to Ringmahon Rangers of the Munster Senior League Premier Division in a jackpot windfall for the amateur side.

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Caoimhin Kelleher's transfer to Brentford has triggered the astonishing windfall for the Cork club. Ringmahon had installed a 20% sell-on fee for the goalkeeper when he departed to sign for the Anfield club 10 years ago.

Kelleher has since bloomed into a full Ireland international, and though he was not in line for much action at Anfield due to the arrival of the highly rated Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia, his performances impressed sufficiently to see him leave for Brentford in a €15m deal.

Current ETV

Caoimhin Kelleher

Liverpool

Caoimhin Kelleher

Liverpool

ETV Range

€18.8M - €22.9M

And the Irish Examiner reports that the formative club of the 26-year-old goalkeeper stand to benefit incredibly.

And Ringmahon’s share could rise even further should he trigger certain milestones based around league position and appearances, which will prompt bonus payments.

This is a record fee for Irish football, overtaking the €2m that Shamrock Rovers earned when Southampton signed Gavin Bazunu from Manchester City.

Congratulations to Caoimhin Kelleher who officially signed for @LFC last night well done to Caoimhin & his family pic.twitter.com/VLvrmXLKoB
— Ringmahon Rangers (@RingmahonRanger) April 16, 2015

Kelleher windfall will ‘last 100 years’

Speaking to The Athletic, club secretary Sean Fitzgerald has underlined how game-changing this is for the amateur club.

“This money is going to be there for my kids, and my kids’ kids and then hopefully for the next 100 years,” he told The Athletic.

The money will go straight back into the grassroots of the club, chairman Paul Higgins explained, indicating that a new artificial surface will be built alongside the existing facilities.

He said: “It’s going to take some time. Some people think that the money will just land in the account and then we can start building everything around the pitch, but it won’t be like that. It will be for our academy, for our five-year-olds in the future, so all the young boys and girls can have the best facilities in the future.”

Kelleher’s legacy, then, will live on in Cork for generations to come.

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