Celtic striker Johnny Kenny bagged a brace yesterday in the teams 7-0 hammering of SC Wiener Viktoria and has admitted he is learning off the other strikers at the club. 

The Irishman arrived in Glasgow from Sligo Rovers in January and was given a photoshoot that you would expect a first team star to receive.

Before injury struck, Kenny became accustomed to the workings of the club playing for Celtic’s B team in the lowland league.

A contingent of B team players were selected to make the trip out to Austria with the squad and Kenny was amongst those chosen and was last night given his opportunity to impress.

He was desperately unlucky not to have bagged a hat-trick with Christopher Jullien nipping in to snatch away his third goal.

There is a real buzz around the place at the moment and the 19-year old is thoroughly enjoying the opportunity he has been handed and has admitted he is learning from Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Albian Ajeti.

“It’s been good to get out with the team for the first game and to top it off with a 7-0 nil win and to get those two goals it’s a good start,” said Johnny Kenny speaking to Celtic TV. 

“The intensity of training so far have been sky high, it’s been tough but very enjoyable at the same time.

“I’ve been learning off of Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Albian Ajeti, you can’t go far wrong with that!

“For the first goal, Mikey Johnston did well, I’ve played with him before so he knew he would find me at the back post and thankfully i’ve been able to finish it off.

“For the second goal there was a bit of luck involved. Alexandro Bernabei whipped it in quite quickly so i got a bit lucky but I had to keep it alive and finish it first time.

“The gaffer wants us to press high and get after teams in the top end of the pitch.

“That’s where we should be capitalising the most and getting our goals from.

“The gaffer really likes the press, so we really try to go for it, it’s been good to learn and get to grips with it.”

Even if Kenny isn’t to make his breakthrough into the first team this season, these lessons being learned in pre-season are value.

It’s incredibly important that younger players can see a clear pathway at the club to get into the first team and working alongside some of the first team regulars will give Kenny a desire and hunger to continue to get better and develop.

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