Shamrock Rovers' Euro star Johnny Kenny returns to training for Celtic in hope of breakthrough
The Sligo-born marksman has returned to Glasgow on the back of scintillating form for Shamrock Rovers in Europe with the aim of finally making his Celtic debut
Johnny Kenny trained with Celtic yesterday for the first time since his goals blazed a trail for Shamrock Rovers in Europe.
Kenny, 21, scored seven goals in nine European games for Rovers during their record-breaking current European run, incorporating strikes in the Champions League and the Conference League group stages.
Five of those goals - and an assist - came from six games in UEFA's third tier European competition, while he also scored twice during the summer's Champions League qualifiers.
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The former Sligo marksman's net-busting exploits helped Stephen Bradley's side to reach the Conference League play-off round in 10th place out of the 36 clubs involved, making Rovers the first Irish club to get that far in the group stages of a European competition and earning them €5.5m to date. Rovers will face Molde over two legs in the play-off on February 13 and 20.
Kenny became the first Rovers player to score 20 goals in a season in 12 years, however his latest loan spell with the Tallaght club ended after he played in their Stamford Bridge defeat to Chelsea in the final group game before Christmas.
Kenny moved to Celtic from Sligo on a five-year deal in 2022 but has yet to play for the Glasgow giants. He was loaned out to St Mirren in the same year before spending the 2023 and 2024 seasons on loan to Shamrock Rovers, winning a League title with the Hoops before his current eye-catching efforts with the club in Europe.
A return to Tallaght for another loan spell hasn't been ruled out but Brendan Rodgers wants to run the rule over the sharpshooter and he trained with his Celtic team-mates on Monday - and in the wake of the 3-0 Old Firm derby loss to Rangers.
The Bhoys are largely dependent on Kyogo Furuhashi and Adam Idah as specialist strikers so in-form Kenny could find himself involved in the Celtic set-up in the near future if he impresses Rodgers.
Speaking ahead of the Chelsea game, Kenny admitted: "It’s my dream to play for Celtic and hopefully I get that in January. Time will tell. The goals in Europe are probably worth two or three in the league. I haven’t done myself any harm but it’s over now and come January, I need to impress at Celtic.”
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