The remarkable rise of Liam Scales at Celtic has given one forgotten Hoops star some huge encouragement.
Forward Johnny Kenny is currently out of the club, on loan at Shamrock Rovers for the 2023 League of Ireland season. Kenny is just 21 but is yet to make a competitive appearance for Celtic since his switch from Sligo Rovers in January 2022.
He seems about as far out of the picture as possible at Celtic Park, yet Scales did recently find himself in a similar position. The pair were housemates during their time together in Glasgow, and Kenny recently took in our gutting home loss to Lazio in Glasgow.
It’s an experience that seems to have inspired him to make it big at Celtic.
He told Irish Examiner: “It’s a real appetite, seeing a player coming from Shamrock Rovers, where I am now, and in two years he’s playing in the Champions League for Celtic. It’s a dream.
“I brought Rory Gaffney and Lee Grace to the game with me. We were all jealous of him standing there when the Champions League music came on. It’s the biggest appetiser I have ever had.
“He (Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley) wants to keep me and reckons that’s best for my development, so we’ll just see what Celtic think.
“I think I want to go back myself, get as fit as possible, get ready, get in training and hopefully impress the new manager. When I was there it was Ange, and Brendan is there now so I just want to get in and try to impress him.”
Looking at stats alone, Kenny doesn’t appear to have completely hit it up for Rovers. He’s netted four goals in 27 league appearances since his move, a poorer return than in the spell with Sligo Rovers that got him the move to Celtic.
To be totally honest, it’s hard to imagine him pushing ahead of Kyogo Furuhashi, Hyeongyu Oh or any other forward on our books.
Despite that, he clearly backs himself and that is good. With Postecoglou no longer around and Rodgers now in charge, he will see it as a real opportunity to force a claim.
The League of Ireland season is up in a matter of weeks so we can expect to see Kenny back at Lennoxtown before the year is out. We’ll have to wait and see what happens from then on.
In other news, Rodgers stunned by Scales’ Celtic form
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
