Conor Kenna - St.Patrick's Athletic

St.Patrick's Athletic

Kenna signed for St. Patrick's Athletic on 9 February 2010, linking up at the Inchicore club with his former UCD manager Pete Mahon, who selected him as club captain. Kenna became a fan's favourite at Inchicore and received the St. Patrick's Athletic Supporters Club Player of the Year award in 2010. Kenna also earned the nickname 'Kennavaro' after brilliant performances similar to famous Workd Cup winning central defender Fabio Cannavaro. He played every minute of every game in all competitions for the Saints in 2010 and didn't get a single yellow or red card all season. Kenna was widely expected to join 2010 league winners and Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers but he stayed loyal to his club and this made him even more of a popular figure with the fans. 2011 looked to be a promising season for the Saints but his footballing career came into doubt when he sustained an injury to a tendon in his knee in the second league game of the season against Bray Wanderers at Richmond Park on the 11th March. He returned from his long injury setback in a 0-0 draw away to Sligo Rovers on the 27th July, Kenna wasn't expected to return so early as he was still building up his fitness but Mahon was forced to play him due to players being tired from a tough game against FC Shakhter Karagandy and he lasted the first 68 minutes before being replaced by Brian Shortall. Kenna went on to regain his place in the starting line up, pushing Shortall to the bench. Kenna scored in a 1-0 win over Sligo at Richmond Park in a huge match in the 2011 title run-in After Kenna returned from injury his performances were just a shadow of his 2010 performances which many fans put down to finding his feet again after the long period without playing games. Indeed they were correct as Kenna regained his excellent form in defence and the Saints found themselves with 3 clean sheets and just 2 goals conceded after the first 5 games of the 2012 season. Kenna played a big part in Pats' 2012 Europa League campaign, playing every game and setting up Stephen O'Flynn's goal against Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja in extra-time at the Hásteinsvöllur, Iceland and also setting up Christy Fagan's winning goal in extra-time against NK Široki Brijeg from Bosnia and Herzegovina at Richmond Park to earn a tie against Hannover 96, whom he played against in the 49,000 seater AWD-Arena.

His cousin is Simon Madden (Irish footballer).

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