JOHNNY KENNY marked his full Celtic debut with his first goal for the club as the much-changed Scottish champions won 5-1 at Aberdeen.
The striker netted 25 goals while on loan with Shamrock Rovers last year, and he headed home Celtic’s fourth goal early in the second half at Pittodrie.
Kenny, who made his League of Ireland debut with hometown side Sligo Rovers before moving to Glasgow in 2022, made seven previous appearances off the bench for the Bhoys.
Maik Nawrocki also headed his first goal for Celtic with Yang Hyun-jun, Luke McCowan and Irish international Adam Idah also on target.
Kevin Nisbet had equalised for the Dons, but their hopes of finishing third in the William Hill Premiership were well and truly extinguished.
And the nature of the defeat, coming off the back of Sunday’s 4-0 defeat by Rangers, will dent their fans’ confidence ahead of the Scottish Cup final against Celtic.
Both sides rang the changes from their weekend games, Brendan Rodgers swapping out eight players while the Dons showed six alterations.
🗣️ “A moment he will cherish and remember forever!”
Yang and Paulo Bernardo both had a couple of early chances while Pape Gueye and Topi Keskinen came close at the other end.
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James Forrest missed a glorious chance to net in his 16th consecutive season for Celtic when Kenny’s blocked shot fell into his path. Despite switching feet well, he somehow turned past the post from close range.
The deadlock was soon broken in the 31st minute. McCowan’s corner found Nawrocki, mismatched against Keskinen at the back post, and the Pole headed home.
Aberdeen levelled almost immediately after a five-minute pause for a medical emergency in the crowd. Gueye lofted the ball into the six-yard box for Nisbet to head past Sinisalo.
Celtic could have gone back in front when Bernardo’s corner was headed goalward by Auston Trusty, but deflected behind off Alexander Jensen.
Jensen’s luck ran out deep in first-half stoppage time as a Forrest cross was palmed by Dimitar Mitov off the Dane, falling kindly for Yang to turn home from close range.
McCowan put the game beyond doubt within three minutes of the restart when he finished calmly after good work from Forrest.
Mitov again denied Forrest before McCowan found space wide on the left to clip a cross for Kenny to head powerfully home from six yards.
The Dons’ night got worse as on-loan Tottenham defender Alfie Dorrington saw red with 12 minutes remaining. Having been booked for an early challenge on Yang, he was handed a second booking by Steven McLean for bringing down sub Idah.
The Celts were toying with Aberdeen now, and Idah was denied by a firm Mitov hand as the visitors piled pressure on the home goal.
Idah turned home from close range in stoppage time after Nicky Devlin’s clearance from a Forrest shot came off Mitov and fell kindly for the hitman.
Elsewhere, despite a goal from Dubliner Graham Carey, St Johnstone’s 16-year stay in the Scottish Premiership was ended after a 2-1 defeat at Hearts on Wednesday, and Ross County’s late leveller to draw 1-1 at Dundee.
Saints dropped four points behind Ross County at the bottom of the table with one game to go.
A controversial 96th-minute Ronan Hale penalty also gave County hope of avoiding the relegation play-off as they remain just two points adrift of Dundee.
A Barry Douglas own goal and Alan Forrest’s strike inside the opening 31 minutes condemned St. Johnstone despite Carey’s fine free-kick pulling a goal back.
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Ex-Shamrock Rovers loanee Kenny scores on full Celtic debut
JOHNNY KENNY marked his full Celtic debut with his first goal for the club as the much-changed Scottish champions won 5-1 at Aberdeen.
The striker netted 25 goals while on loan with Shamrock Rovers last year, and he headed home Celtic’s fourth goal early in the second half at Pittodrie.
Kenny, who made his League of Ireland debut with hometown side Sligo Rovers before moving to Glasgow in 2022, made seven previous appearances off the bench for the Bhoys.
Maik Nawrocki also headed his first goal for Celtic with Yang Hyun-jun, Luke McCowan and Irish international Adam Idah also on target.
Kevin Nisbet had equalised for the Dons, but their hopes of finishing third in the William Hill Premiership were well and truly extinguished.
And the nature of the defeat, coming off the back of Sunday’s 4-0 defeat by Rangers, will dent their fans’ confidence ahead of the Scottish Cup final against Celtic.
Both sides rang the changes from their weekend games, Brendan Rodgers swapping out eight players while the Dons showed six alterations.
Yang and Paulo Bernardo both had a couple of early chances while Pape Gueye and Topi Keskinen came close at the other end.
James Forrest missed a glorious chance to net in his 16th consecutive season for Celtic when Kenny’s blocked shot fell into his path. Despite switching feet well, he somehow turned past the post from close range.
The deadlock was soon broken in the 31st minute. McCowan’s corner found Nawrocki, mismatched against Keskinen at the back post, and the Pole headed home.
Aberdeen levelled almost immediately after a five-minute pause for a medical emergency in the crowd. Gueye lofted the ball into the six-yard box for Nisbet to head past Sinisalo.
Celtic could have gone back in front when Bernardo’s corner was headed goalward by Auston Trusty, but deflected behind off Alexander Jensen.
Jensen’s luck ran out deep in first-half stoppage time as a Forrest cross was palmed by Dimitar Mitov off the Dane, falling kindly for Yang to turn home from close range.
McCowan put the game beyond doubt within three minutes of the restart when he finished calmly after good work from Forrest.
Mitov again denied Forrest before McCowan found space wide on the left to clip a cross for Kenny to head powerfully home from six yards.
The Dons’ night got worse as on-loan Tottenham defender Alfie Dorrington saw red with 12 minutes remaining. Having been booked for an early challenge on Yang, he was handed a second booking by Steven McLean for bringing down sub Idah.
The Celts were toying with Aberdeen now, and Idah was denied by a firm Mitov hand as the visitors piled pressure on the home goal.
Idah turned home from close range in stoppage time after Nicky Devlin’s clearance from a Forrest shot came off Mitov and fell kindly for the hitman.
Elsewhere, despite a goal from Dubliner Graham Carey, St Johnstone’s 16-year stay in the Scottish Premiership was ended after a 2-1 defeat at Hearts on Wednesday, and Ross County’s late leveller to draw 1-1 at Dundee.
Saints dropped four points behind Ross County at the bottom of the table with one game to go.
A controversial 96th-minute Ronan Hale penalty also gave County hope of avoiding the relegation play-off as they remain just two points adrift of Dundee.
A Barry Douglas own goal and Alan Forrest’s strike inside the opening 31 minutes condemned St. Johnstone despite Carey’s fine free-kick pulling a goal back.
Scottish Premiership results on Wednesday:
Rangers 3 (Dessers 25, 73-pen, Raskin 75) Dundee United 1 (Harding 20)
St. Mirren 2 (Taylor 45+5, McMenamin 64) Hibernian 2 (Boyle 3, Kukharevych 10)
Motherwell 3 (Armstrong 77, 86, Slattery 83) Kilmarnock 0
Hearts 2 (Douglas 17-og, Forrest 31) St. Johnstone 1 (Carey 74)
Dundee 1 (Tiffoney 55) Ross County 1 (Hale 90+6-pen)
Aberdeen 1 (Nisbet 42) Celtic 5 (Nawrocki 31, Yang 45+8, McCowan 48, Kenny 54, Idah 90+4)
Additional reporting by AFP
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