Johnny Kenny has admitted a lack of contact from his parent club Celtic is “hard to take”.

The 21-year-old signed a five-year deal with Brendan Rodgers’ side from Sligo Rovers in January 2022, before being sent to Queen’s Park on loan the following summer.

Kenny is now approaching the end of a two-season loan spell in the League of Ireland Premier Division with Shamrock Rovers, having returned to his homeland in January 2023.

Following a prolific second year with Rovers, which sees the striker amongst the division’s top three goal scorers and the Tallaght club in the running for a fifth consecutive league title, Kenny says the lack of communication from Celtic has been tough to take. “It’s difficult,” he told the Irish Independent.

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“They are my current club, but you just have to try prove them wrong on the pitch and see what comes of it. It’s a message here and there from Darren O’Dea [Celtic’s professional player pathway manager], that’s it, that’s all it is. I’m into the last few months of my deal now at Celtic, so we’ll just see what happens.

“It’s hard to take. Last year, [the lack of contact was] fair enough because I wasn’t really performing. But this year, I think I have performed well and I have gotten minimal contact from them.

“But look, I’ll just keep going game by game and see where it takes me. I’m always hopeful of getting an opportunity [at Celtic], but it might be limited. It would be a dream to play over there, but we’ll wait and see."