Aidan Keena
Aidan Keena (born 25 April 1999) is an Irish footballer who plays as a forward for Falkirk. He has previously played for St Patrick's Athletic, Heart of Midlothian, Hartlepool United, Queen's Park and Dunfermline Athletic.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 25 April 1999 | ||
Place of birth | Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland | ||
Playing position(s) | Forward | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Falkirk | ||
Number | 9 | ||
Youth career | |||
Mullingar Athletic | |||
2015 | Shelbourne | ||
2016–2017 | St Patrick's Athletic | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2017 | St Patrick's Athletic | 3 | (0) |
2017–2020 | Heart of Midlothian | 11 | (0) |
2018 | → Queens Park (loan) | 14 | (8) |
2018–2019 | → Dunfermline Athletic (loan) | 12 | (4) |
2020 | Hartlepool United | 8 | (2) |
2020- | Falkirk | 0 | (0) |
National team | |||
2015 | Republic of Ireland U17 | 2 | (0) |
2016–2017 | Republic of Ireland U18 | 4 | (0) |
2018 | Republic of Ireland U19 | 1 | (0) |
2019– | Republic of Ireland U21 | 2 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:43, 14 March 2020 (UTC) |
Club career
St Patrick's Athletic
Keena, a member of the St Patrick's Athletic under 19's squad, was called up to the first team by manager Liam Buckley for pre-season in January 2017 despite being just 17 years old. He scored on his first team debut, in a 5–0 win over Bluebell United in a friendly.[1] Keena made his first official appearance in senior football on 24 February 2017 when he came on as a 67th-minute substitute in the Saints opening game of the season against Bray Wanderers. With Pats trailing 2–0, Kenna set up Graham Kelly for an 85th-minute goal before being shown a straight red card in the 91st minute for a late tackle on Dylan Connolly.[2] Keena went on to make four more appearances for the club (two league and two League Cup) in the 2017 season, with the last of those being a Dublin Derby against Bohemians on 16 June 2017.
Heart of Midlothian
Keena was signed by Heart of Midlothian in August 2017.[3] After impressing first team staff with his goalscoring form for the reserves, he was called up to the first team and made his debut as a late substitute in a 1–1 draw versus Partick Thistle at Tynecastle Park on 19 November 2017. Keena was loaned to Scottish League One club Queen's Park in January 2018.[4] In August 2018, he joined Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Championship on a season-long loan.[5]
After a promising few months with Dunfermline, Keena was recalled to Hearts in January, scoring his first goal for the club in a 4–0 victory against Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup.[6]
Falkirk
Keena signed for Falkirk F.C on 5 August 2020.
International career
Keena has represented the Republic of Ireland at Under-17, Under-18 and Under-19 level.[9][10][11] On 6 November 2019, Keena was announced in Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland U21 side for the first time, for their European Under-21 Championship qualification games against Armenia U21 & Sweden U21.[12]
Career statistics
Season | Club | League | National Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
St Patrick's Athletic | 2017[13] | League of Ireland Premier Division | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Heart of Midlothian | 2017–18[15] | Scottish Premiership | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
2018–19[16] | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 1] | 1 | 9 | 2 | ||
2019–20[17] | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3[lower-alpha 1] | 3 | 12 | 3 | ||
Total | 11 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 27 | 5 | ||
Queen's Park (loan) | 2017–18[15] | Scottish League One | 14 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 16 | 8 |
Dunfermline Athletic (loan) | 2018–19[16] | Scottish Championship | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4 |
Hartlepool United | 2019–20 | National League | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
Career total | 48 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 63 | 19 |
- Appearances for Hearts under-21s in the Scottish Challenge Cup in which age-restricted sides from the Scottish Premiership clubs compete against senior clubs
- Appearances in the Scottish League One play-offs
References
- "Extratime.ie - Live Updates - Friendly - Bluebell United -v- St. Patrick's Athletic". Extratime.ie.
- http://www.extratime.ie/matches/detail/30169/2/
- "Youngster Keena joins Hearts Heart of Midlothian - News". Heartsfc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- "New faces give squad a boost". Queen's Park FC. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- "Dunfermline sign Robbie Muirhead, Malaury Martin & Aidan Keena". BBC Sport. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
- "Hearts 4 – 0 Auchinleck Talbot". BBC Sport. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- "Aidan Keena: Striker moves from Hearts to Hartlepool Utd". BBC Sport. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51158943
- "Aidan Keena". Uefa.com. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- "St Patrick's Athletic FC". Facebook.com. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- "Congrats to Aidan Keena on being called up to the Ireland under 18 squad for their upcoming friendlies #InternationalSaints". Twitter.com. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019/1106/1089089-kenny-names-weakened-squad-for-crucial-euro-qualifiers/
- "Republic of Ireland – A.Keena". Soccerway. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- "Aidan Keena - Soccerbase".
- "Games played by Aidan Keena in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- "Games played by Aidan Keena in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- "Games played by Aidan Keena in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 October 2019.