Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp piled more praise on the "outstanding" Caoimhin Kelleher after the Corkman shone for the Premier League leaders at Brentford on Saturday.
Kelleher - deputising for the injured Alisson Becker - delivered the type of assured performance Reds fans have been accustomed to.
With the extent of Alisson's injury currently unknown it is possible that the understudy will play when Liverpool welcome Luton to Anfield on Wednesday and he has also been guaranteed he'll be between the posts for the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.
Klopp said he had not previously planned to play Kelleher at the Gtech Stadium despite Sunday's approaching showpiece at Wembley.
The Brazilian did not travel to Brentford, instead remaining at the club’s Melwood training complex to receive treatment.
"Alisson was ill last week and is injured this week," said Klopp. "There’s absolutely no other ideas behind it. If Alisson would not have been ill and would not have been injured now, he would have played.
"We’ve had enough games to have a rhythm. Goalkeepers are a different breed to other people. It was not in my plan to play (Kelleher) at Luton.
"He was outstanding," Klopp said of the 25-year-old. "I don't know exactly, to be honest, who is the number one [goalkeeper] in Ireland but if they have a better goalkeeper than him I have to say, 'respect'.
"He's outstanding and this year we gave him more games than he had previously. It's well deserved because we need him, and we need him with rhythm and now the situation around Ali shows that it makes absolutely sense.
"We will see how long Ali is out, but Caoimhin is exceptional. Today he was... wow! It was an A-plus performance.
Kelleher only has 11 Republic of Ireland caps to his name despite being halfway through his 20s. He's been in a lengthy battle with Southampton stopper Gavin Bazunu for the No 1 shirt, perhaps paying the price for playing second fiddle to Alisson at Liverpool.
Not that Klopp has any worries about his ability to step up to the plate.
"Caoimhin had already enough games this year to have kind of rhythm," he said.
"How I said, we play the game we play with all focus and all attention and don't think about other things. It might be not the smartest way. It's just the only way I know."
The German also singled out Co Tyrone defender Conor Bradley, who returned to the side following the passing of his father.
"I am over the moon about him," added Klopp. "[His display] was pretty special. Very, very special. But he was special before the weekend. He's now again pretty special. He played an exceptional game.
"We had the situation again with changes. Who do we take off? Is it Robbo, who played a second game in a row after a long, long break? Or is it Conor? [We] decided in the end for Conor. Robbo can maybe manage it with his experience slightly better. Yeah, very impressive, absolutely."
Klopp is currently dealing with an extensive injury list, made worse after Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones both left the stadium on Saturday on crutches.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai are also amongst those unavailable in the coming weeks, while Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip are longer-term absentees.
