Prolific Irish goalscorer back at Lennoxtown for third striker role at Celtic | OneFootball

Prolific Shamrock Rovers striker Johnny Kenny returned to Celtic training on Thursday morning at Lennoxtown…

SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, Richmond Park, Dublin 21/4/2023 St. Patrick s Athletic vs Shamrock Rovers Rovers Johnny Kenny celebrates scoring the first goal of the game Johnny Kenny celebrates scoring the first goal 21/4/2023 INPHO/RyanxByrne

Kenny netted on five occasions in this season’s UEFA Conference League group phase matches taking his tally to seven European goals during a record-breaking campaign on the continent for Shamrock Rovers.

The Irish Premier Division side finished 10th in UEFA’s third tier competition setting up a mammoth knockout playoff round encounter with Norwegian outfit Molde in February.

Thus, Rovers became the first Irish side in history to reach that far of a European competition banking €5.5 million in the process. However, they will be without their star man heading into back-to-back games against Molde.

A January 2022 signing

Kenny, who signed for Celtic in January 2022 on a five-year deal from Sligo Rovers spent time at Queens Park on loan during the same year has spent the last two years at the Tallaght club.

SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, Richmond Park, Dublin 21/4/2023 St. Patrick s Athletic vs Shamrock Rovers Rovers Johnny Kenny celebrates scoring the first goal of the game Johnny Kenny celebrates scoring the first goal 21/4/2023 INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Celtic’s recalled striker became the first Shamrock Rovers player to score 20 goals across all competitions in a season for 12 years.

Kenny’s last game for Shamrock Rovers came in their 5-1 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago.

“Come January, I need to impress at Celtic”

Pre-match to his visit to London, he admitted that he aspires of returning to Celtic and hit the ground running in Glasgow; “It’s my dream to play for Celtic and hopefully I get that in January,” Kenny said. “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.”

Brendan Rodgers consistently talks about that third striker position being vacant, and with Kenny impressing in Europe, he may well be the man to fill that void in the second half of this season.

Some publicity around Kenny signing for Celtic in January 2022 is shown below.

Conor Spence

Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books.  ORDER NOW WHILE STOCKS LAST!

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