Liam Buckley: 'I have no doubt Johnny Kenny has a tremendous career ahead of him'

Dave Donnelly reports from Dalymount Park

Liam Buckley has tipped teenage striker Johnny Kenny to have a big future as he continues his breakthrough season with the Bit o’ Red.

The 17-year-old has been ever-present this season after signing his first professional contract in January.

He was sprung from the bench last week and scored the only goal as Buckley’s side continued their unbeaten start to the season with victory over Finn Harps last week.

And he was centrally involved in all three of Sligo’s goals in a 3-1 victory over Bohemians at Dalymount Park during the week.

His hold-up play released Jamaican international Romeo Parkes to tee up Jordan Gibson’s opener, and he played a role in late goals for both Mark Byrne and David Cawley.

Despite only making the step up to under-19 football at the end of last year, the Sligo native’s ability to lead the line has allowed Parkes to step back into a playmaker role.

The Kenny family is steeped in Sligo Rovers folklore – his father, also called Johnny, was part of Willie McStay’s side that won the First Division, FAI Cup and League of Ireland Shield in 1994.

A year later he was called up to train with Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland squad, and Buckley believes Johnny Junior has the potential to make a big mark of his own.

“Johnny is a young lad coming into the team. He’s a fantastic player and I have no doubt he’ll have a tremendous career ahead of him,” Buckley told extratime.ie.

“He’s got all the time in the world to develop that career. He’s worked his socks off this evening [against Bohs] and I’m delighted that we have him now on professional forms.

Buckley wasn’t quite so enthused about the performance at Dalymount Park as they let a half-time lead slip two minutes after the restart and were perhaps fortunate not to fall behind.

The former Ireland international admitted his team were second-best after the break but prevailed thanks to breakaway strikes from substitutes Byrne and Cawley.

“I thought we were average. There wasn’t a lot in it in the first half – we both huffed and puffed and had a couple of good chances in the first few minutes.

“The second half, they were more or less on top and had better possession, but we done them a couple of times on the counter-attack and scored some great goals.

“When we conceded so early in the second half, teams have the habit of dropping back in and dropping back in, and when you do that, you encourage chances against you.

“It probably doesn’t reflect the match but it’s a real important three points for us and it keeps us at the top end of the table, where we want to be.”

He continued: “I’m delighted for all the boys because I know how hard they’re working from a fitness and organisation point of view.

“So hopefully we can get the quality of our play better and, if we do, we can have a good run this year.

“I think there’s more to come from this team. We have a lot of good players but collectively we need to gel better together.”

Sligo host winless Derry City on Saturday evening as they look to keep pace with league leaders Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic (kick-off 6pm).