'Not out of sympathy': Portsmouth boss' impressive statement over starlet after strong Wolves bow
Eoin Kenny registered his first Championship appearance for Pompey against Wolves on Tuesday.
John Mousinho has praised Eoin Kenny’s impact after being handed his Championship bow against Wolves on Tuesday.
And the head coach made it clear the 20-year-old’s Molineux introduction wasn’t ‘out of sympathy’ and insisted the young attacker earned his place in the side.
Kenny featured significantly in pre-season, appearing in all warm-up friendlies ahead of the new campaign, before an introduction from the bench against West Ham in the Carabao Cup first-round defeat in August.
The versatile forward was then in-and-out of the Blues’ matchday squads before the international break, before being named as a substitute in successive matches against Southampton, Sheffield United and Norwich City amid Pompey’s ongoing injury crisis.
But, the Irish sensation was given his first taste of Championship in midweek, when he replaced Abu Kamara for the final 15 minutes of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Wolves.
And Kenny made a strong impact from the bench as Mousinho’s troops went on to net a late equaliser at Molineux through Terry Devlin.
Summer arrival’s Wolves impact praised by Pompey boss
Indeed, the head coach praised the attacker’s cameo and felt the contest was the perfect opportunity to hand him his first league bow for the Blues.
The head coach said: ‘I thought it was a really nice thing to be able to do to give Eoin his Championship debut.
‘We’re not doing it out of sympathy, we have other options and had other options to bring on but I thought it was the right time.
‘Eoin’s been training really well and I felt in the moment that there would be space for Eoin to get into and run in to.He showed some really nice touches and I thought he contributed really well.
‘He’s had to bide his time but very glad he’s pulled on a Pompey shirt in the Championship for the first time and hopefully we can see a few more appearances.’
Pompey in midst of injury crisis ahead of Millwall
Pompey are, of course, still in the midst of an ongoing injury crisis, which will likely see 10 players sit out Saturday’s game against Millwall.
But the head coach was proud of the players who came in against Wolves - including Kenny - to come from behind to earn a point.
‘We are thin, definitely, in terms of having quite a few out that we’d very much like to have back and we can’t fill the bench with outfield players at the moment.
‘So the changes that we made on Tuesday, we were adamant within the building that they weren’t going to make us weaker and shouldn’t make us weaker and that’s the point of having the squad.
‘We’re trying to get to a position now where we move away from where we’ve been over the last couple of years when we make those changes and are significantly weaker.
‘Tuesday, it was a good test with a few of the boys coming in to make sure we kept the level we’ve been going at in the last couple of games and thankfully we did well.’