Aidan Keena (born 25 April 1999) is an Irish footballer who plays as a forward for Sligo Rovers. He has previously played for St Patrick's Athletic, Heart of Midlothian, Hartlepool United, Queen's Park, Dunfermline Athletic and Falkirk.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Aidan Keena | ||
| Date of birth | (1999-04-25) 25 April 1999 (age 23) | ||
| Place of birth | Mullingar, Ireland | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Sligo Rovers | ||
| 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) |
| 2020–2022 | Falkirk | 32 | (6) |
| 2022– | Sligo Rovers | 32 | (18) |
| 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) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 October 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2019 | |||
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.
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]
Keena left Hearts in January 2020 and signed for Hartlepool United. Prior to this, Keena had unsuccessful trials with Darlington and Berwick Rangers.[7]
He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win against Stockport County on 25 January 2020.[8]
After leaving Hartlepool, Keena returned to Scotland and signed a two-year deal with Scottish League One side Falkirk on 5 August 2020.[9] On 24 January 2022, it was announced that Keena had left Falkirk by mutual consent after 8 goals in 38 appearances for the club.[10]
On 24 January 2022, Keena signed for League of Ireland Premier Division club Sligo Rovers and quickly established himself.[11] Keena made his debut on 25 February 2022, scoring the winner in a 2–1 victory away to his first senior club St Patrick's Athletic.[12] On 14 March 2022, he scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 win over Finn Harps at The Showgrounds.[13] Keena was named League of Ireland Player of the Month for March 2022, following a great start to life at his new club, scoring 5 goals in his first 6 appearances.[14] He scored a brace in a 3–1 win at home to Shelbourne on 2 July 2022, his 10th and 11th goals of the season, to return to the top of the goal scoring charts in the league.[15] On 7 July 2022, he scored on his debut in European football, scoring the equaliser in a 2–1 win away to Welsh side Bala Town in the UEFA Europa Conference League.[16][17] On 21 July 2022, Keena scored the winning goal in a 1–0 victory away to Motherwell in the UEFA Europa Conference League.[18] He was named League of Ireland Player of the Month for July 2022, his second time winning the award.[19]
Keena has represented the Republic of Ireland at Under-17, Under-18 and Under-19 level.[20][21][22] 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.[23]
| Season | Club | League | National Cup[lower-alpha 1] | League Cup[lower-alpha 2] | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| St Patrick's Athletic | 2017[24] | League of Ireland Premier Division | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 2017–18[26] | Scottish Premiership | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
| 2018–19[27] | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 4] | 1 | 9 | 2 | ||
| 2019–20[28] | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3[lower-alpha 4] | 3 | 12 | 3 | ||
| Total | 11 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 27 | 5 | ||
| Queen's Park (loan) | 2017–18[26] | Scottish League One | 14 | 8 | — | — | 2[lower-alpha 5] | 0 | 16 | 8 | ||
| Dunfermline Athletic (loan) | 2018–19[27] | Scottish Championship | 12 | 4 | — | — | 0[lower-alpha 6] | 0 | 12 | 4 | ||
| Hartlepool United | 2019–20[24] | National League | 8 | 2 | — | — | — | 8 | 2 | |||
| Falkirk | 2020–21[24] | Scottish League One | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 14 | 2 | |
| 2021–22[24] | 21 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 6] | 1 | 24 | 6 | ||
| Total | 32 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 8 | ||
| Sligo Rovers | 2022[24] | League of Ireland Premier Division | 24 | 14 | 1 | 1 | — | 5[lower-alpha 7] | 2 | 30 | 17 | |
| Career total | 104 | 34 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 133 | 44 | ||
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Sligo Rovers F.C. – current squad | |
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