AIDAN KEENA laughs when a kid who had just stopped him to get a selfie tells him he is the GOAT.
He shrugged: “I think it’s the beard.”
It is premature to be talking all-time ranking just 19 games into his second stint – his first was five games – at St Patrick’s Athletic.
But five goals in his last three games – including two penalties in Monday night’s win over Derry City – impresses more than just impressionable kids.
He said: “That’s me job. You get a lot of chances in this team, and we’ve a lot of good footballers, and it’s my job to finish them and thank god I’ve been doing it so far.
“You just get runs where you’re feeling good in yourself and you just want to keep that going as much as possible.”
Keena knows the other side of it too having scored just one goal in 41 appearances last season at Cheltenham Town.
He averaged a goal every three games in his first six months there following his move from Sligo Rovers, where he finished as the league’s top scorer with 18 goals.
But the 2023-24 campaign was one where nothing went right.
He said: “It was a very different style of football. And to be honest I was way off it at the start of the season.
“It just happens in football sometimes, whether it’s confidence or style of play, it just wasn’t happening for me.
“You know you can do it, it’s not like that. Sometimes you just get runs in football where it just doesn’t happen for you and things don’t fall for you.
“You need to enjoy it when it is happening as much as you can. It could go the other way again tomorrow, know what I mean?
“You have to enjoy it, keep working hard, and hopefully the chances keep falling to you.”
Back at the Saints where it all started for him as a teenager, he quickly settled as he was quietly prolific last season scoring five goals in 11 appearances.
His goals to minute ratio was among the best in the league, largely because he played few minutes as he played catch up with his teammates.
He added: “I came back from surgery on my shoulder and did half a pre-season and did find it a bit tough coming in where the boys were all fit and flying and had loads of games under their belt.
“So it did take me a while to get going. But I feel good this season and have hit the ground running.”
His goals have got the Saints up and running and also ensured that there is no clamour to rush Tottenham-bound Mason Melia into the side as he returns from a back problem.
Keena may be the league’s top scorer, but he relishes the challenge of competing with the league’s most highly-rated star for a spot.
He said: “I don’t want to blow too much smoke up him now but he’s brilliant. As long as he can deal with the pressures, he’ll have some career.
“Even the difference in Maso between this season and last season, he’s much more of a physical specimen, he’s sharper, he’s looking very good.
“We’ve ambitions of trying to win stuff and compete for stuff so the more good players you have the better.”
With injuries and suspensions in midfield, Stephen Kenny played both Keena and Melia against Derry City with the 17-year-old operating in a deeper role.
But while the Saints won and were dangerous on the counter attack, Kenny suggested he will not use the pair together that often as he felt his side lacked control of the game.
Kenny said: “I used him once or twice there last year. It was a big decision because he’s a forward rather than a midfielder player.
“Brandon Kavanagh or Romal Palmer, players of that ilk, they’d be connected to the midfield more. You can build a bit and we struggled to build early on.
“We felt him running from deep could possibly Derry in that regard. His first game back, we can’t expect miracles from him, he didn’t train for four months.
“We didn’t intentionally surrender possession, we’d have liked to have more control in that early period than we did but defensively we were solid.”
TITLE TILT?
But the win, which came on the back of Friday’s 4-3 victory over Sligo Rovers, has got the Saints up and running after taking one point from their opening two games.
That was disappointing after the Saints went into the season as title favourites having won nine straight at the end of last season to finish third.
But Keena insists that this year is going to be tougher regardless.
He said: “We knew winning nine in a row, we knew it’s not like we were going to come in and win every game again.
“We knew there was always going to be slip ups and tough games, and we were going to lose the odd game here and there so it’s good that we’ve turned it around.”
And Keena’s goals can make a big difference is he keeps hitting his own targets.
He said: “You just kind of look two goals a month, if you do that, you’re looking at 20 for the season.
“I’ve hit me month’s tally! I’ll look for a few more this month, yeah.”
