Johnny Kenny has completed his loan switch from Queens Park to Shamrock Rovers.
Celtic signed the striker from Sligo Rovers in January, after a couple of outings in the B team he joined Ange Postecoglou’s first team squad in Austria for pre-season training.
Making the jump from League of Ireland to Celtic was never going to be easy with a loan deal to Queens Park arranged at the start of the SPFL season.
Kenny has started just two Championship matches, coming off the bench 11 times for Owen Coyle’s side with a switch to the LOI champions appearing a logical move for all parties.
At lunchtime today the Dublin side announced:
Shamrock Rovers F.C. is delighted to announce the loan signing of striker Johnny Kenny from Celtic.
Johnny joins the Hoops on a season-long loan deal and Rovers’ Head Coach Stephen Bradley is happy to have secured the move. In revealing the new striker today, Bradley said “We like his attributes and the way he plays the game.
“We’ve liked him and monitored him for quite some time. We tried to get him a couple of years back and it didn’t quite come off so we’re delighted to get him, because he has some really good attributes that we feel will improve the team.”
Kenny told the Irish Mirror:
It’s great to be here. I couldn’t wait to get here once I spoke with the manager. Now it’s just time to get down to work.
There were a few clubs sniffing about, but once I spoke to Stephen about his ambitions for the club, and what they’ve done in the past few years, winning leagues and in the group stages last year, you want to play at the highest level. That’s why I want to come back here and get a smile on my face
Last August Celtic signed Liam Scales from Shamrock Rovers with the defender making 13 appearances across all competitions before going out on loan to Aberdeen in July.
Kenny’s example illustrates how difficult it is for Celtic to find pathways to develop players, the Lowland League is fine for toughening up 16 and 17-year-old players but other steps are needed to switch from the fifth tier of the Scottish game to the very elite.
