Forgotten Celtic starlet with 5-year contract nets vital Euro goal as interest mounts in red-hot teenager

Kenny, 21, has been a peripheral player at Celtic since arriving from Sligo Rovers in 2022, not making a single appearance for the club and having loan spells at Queen’s Park and Shamrock Rovers.

Capped by the Republic of Ireland at under-21 level, Kenny has been on the goal trail for the Rovers, and has netted 14 times in 30 appearances for the Irish side on the back of his goal in Vienna.

The hosts led through a Nenad Cvetkovic goal just nine minutes in at the Allianz Stadion, but Shamrock Rovers regrouped after the break and Kenny levelled on 55 minutes.

Kenny, who is contracted until the summer of 2027 with Celtic, scored earlier in the month in the Conference League over The New Saints and with the Tallaght Stadium outfit sitting on eight points after four matches, there is a high chance they will be involved in the tournament after Christmas.

Meanwhile, another young Celtic striker in Daniel Cummings is being linked with a move to England after scoring the winner in the UEFA Youth League against Club Brugge.

Cummings, 18, netted his fifth goal in as many games in the tournament on Wednesday against the Belgians and has bagged 17 strikes in 14 appearances for Celtic B this term in the Lowland League.

According to reports down south, five teams are monitoring the progress of the teenager, who is out of contract at the end of the season. Wolves, Fulham, Ipswich, Sunderland and Burnley have all been credited with an interest.

Meanwhile, Celtic captain Callum McGregor believes they have made strides in the Champions League by understanding that they will need to “suffer” at times.

The Scottish champions got a point closer to extending their involvement in the competition when they bounced back from a difficult start to claim a 1-1 home draw with Club Brugge.

The Belgians were the better side before Cameron Carter-Vickers gifted them a 26th-minute opener with an own goal but Celtic finished the stronger team after Daizen Maeda’s excellent solo equaliser on the hour mark.

After struggling to get their just rewards for their attacking play in the previous two seasons and taking a 7-1 hit against Borussia Dortmund, Celtic appear to have learned to ride the waves when coming under attack and appreciate that they cannot always be on the front foot.

Having beaten RB Leipzig 3-1 at home last time out, expectations were high among the Celtic support, but McGregor knows they will not have it all their own way in any European match.

“I think the performance level against Leipzig was so high and it was a perfect storm,” he said. “We scored at the right time, atmosphere, everything all came together and what was probably a perfect night performance-wise. You’ve got to carry a bit of luck at this level as well. We scored at the right times and got ourselves back into the game.

“The pleasing aspect again is that even when we’re struggling in the game we can regain control of the game and that’s something that we’ve got a lot better at, especially in the Champions League level where we understand the times we have to suffer because they’re all good teams at this level and they’ve shown that.”

McGregor admitted they were a bit disconnected with their pressing in the opening half hour but managed to sort things out before a half-time tactical tweak allowed them to have a stronger foothold in the game.

“They’ve come here with a good idea with the ball, really comfortable, really good players and then a threat when they break through as well,” the midfielder added.

“You’re not always going to have everything your own way but what was pleasing again was that we took stock at half-time, changed it a little bit and then we looked like the team who were pushing and causing the problems, so that’s another string on our bow in terms of being at this level. We’re happy to suffer when we need to.”