'You’d be blowing out your arse and sore, but this year I feel a lot freer'

Paul Fennessy

JOHNNY KENNY says he is close to rediscovering his best form and fitness after opening the scoring in Shamrock Rovers’ 3-1 win against Bohemians last Friday.

The 21-year-old striker has had bad luck with injuries of late but there was an element of good fortune about his goal.

Dylan Watts’ mis-hit shot fell perfectly into his path and the youngster slotted home for his second of the season in his first league start of the campaign.

Kenny was one of two changes to Rovers’ starting XI, coming into the side in the absence of Rory Gaffney.

The Ireland U21 international is well aware that he needs to perform well with competition from Gaffney and Aaron Greene, who also scored against Bohs after replacing Kenny with 20 minutes remaining.

And Kenny admits he is still not at 100% fitness after recent injury problems.

“Early in the first half, I think I was way off it with fitness, but as the game went on I came into it,” he said.

The Sligo native is on loan at Shamrock Rovers from Celtic for the second consecutive season.

48 mins: Shamrock Rovers 1-0 Bohemians
Johnny Kenny gives the hosts the lead shortly after half-time after Dylan Watt's wild shot flies winds up at his feet
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He acknowledges last year probably did not go “the way I wanted” and “poor performances were on me” as he finished the campaign with five goals from 30 appearances compared to 11 in 32 for former club Sligo Rovers in the 2021 season.

However, it was not purely a matter of being out of form. Kenny was suffering from a recurring groin injury and an issue termed osteitis pubis, defined as “inflammation in the joint between your left and right pubic bones”.

He struggled to complete games for much of last season as a result.

The striker was reluctant to take time out though, with Rovers vying for the title, subsequently returning to Celtic in the off-season and getting a much-needed break from football while undergoing a procedure that has proved beneficial.

“In terms of fitness, I feel like I can last longer,” he added. “Repetitive sprints and repetitive movements last year were tough because you’d be blowing out your arse and sore, but this year I feel a lot freer.”

Kenny still has to manage the injury carefully and whether he can start another game — Waterford are next up for Rovers this evening — in such a short space of time remains to be seen, but he is certainly on the road to full fitness.

Hoops manager Stephen Bradley had enough faith to re-sign Kenny ahead of this season and believes the striker has the potential to be more prolific.

The Rovers starlet agrees: “I had big opportunities last year to hit 15 [goals] and didn’t take them. But hopefully this year I can push on.”

Off the field, Kenny seems content. He lives in a house with the club’s strength and conditioning coach Eoin Donnelly, and teammates Rory Gaffney, Lee Grace, Josh Honohan and Aaron McEneff.

“Rory — clueless,” he jokes. “Josh Honohan — the worst I’ve ever lived with, doesn’t have a clue. He nearly set the house on fire today with the smell of fish. It was disgraceful.

“Lee Grace wasn’t happy, nor were Aaron and myself. But it’s a good group of lads and for Josh, it’s his first time living away from his family, so he is going to have to learn.”

Kenny was in touch with another teammate while waiting for journalists to finish interviewing Bradley in the post-match media area.

Ireland international Liam Scales, who was watching the Hoops’ win over Bohemians, was on the phone offering his congratulations and felt Kenny was “robbed for Man of the Match” — at least, according to the young loanee.

As someone who has already gone from Rovers to the Celtic first team, Scales is a player Kenny hopes to emulate.

“I did media in October and said he was my inspiration when he was coming through. He was laughing, but realistically he is. He has the same path, he played for the same clubs. He’s one of Celtic’s top players this season, fair play to him.

“He watches me when I’m playing, to be fair. He’s a supporter of the club. He’s good friends with Conor Kearns so he’s an eye on Shelbourne too. I’ll tell him he’ll have to pick one or the other now. He still watches the league.  We watch him as he’s done incredible since the start of the season since Brendan [Rodgers] started trusting him.

“I was trying to go to the [upcoming] Rangers game but they didn’t give an allocation. I hope to get to one of the games before the end of the season — hopefully, a cup final at Hampden.”