Portsmouth make immediate decision on Eoin Kenny following transfer
Terry Devlin is the perfect role model for Eoin Kenny as the 20-year-old begins his new life at Pompey
John Mousinho has revealed his plan for Pompey’s newest signing, Eoin Kenny.
And the aim is to roll out the Terry Devlin playbook that has paid huge dividends ever since he swapped the island of Ireland for the south coast.
Like the Blues’ 2025-26 player of the year, who cost Pompey £70,000 when he made the switch from Irish League Glentoran in 2023, Kenny arrives at Fratton Park after establishing himself on the local scene on the other side of the Irish Sea.
Ten goals in 25 games last season as Dundalk earned promotion back to the League of Ireland’s Premier Division, coupled with five goals and three assists during the Oriel Park’s current 2026 campaign, had clubs on this side of the water on high alert.
But as the likes of Lincoln. Luton and Blackpool weighed up their moves, Pompey swooped in by meeting the young forward’s release clause and quickly tying him down to a three-year contract.
The speed at which the deal was sorted has allowed the 20-year-old to meet up with his new Blues team-mates, including Devlin, on their week-long pre-season training camp in Ireland.
It has also given Pompey the opportunity to get to work with the Northern Ireland under-21 international straight away on the training pitch, with next week marking the beginning of a busy period of pre-season fixtures.
‘We want him to push for a spot’
In an ideal world, Mousinho would love Kenny to be pushing for a place in his first team this season.
But the Blues boss knows there’s no rush and believes the best way to elevate the youngster to his Championship ranks is by keeping the winger around the first-team environment.
That means Pompey have no intention of sending the winger out on loan to gain valuable senior experience on these shores - a decision that was also taken on Devlin.
When asked what his plan was for Kenny this season, Mousinho told The News: ‘Eoin has had two or three really good seasons over in Ireland and we were fortunate enough to be able to take him.
‘There was a lot of competition there and the beauty about bringing someone like Eoin over (now) is we can have a look at him in pre-season.
‘We want him to push for a place in the first team (but) there’s no rush for someone who is 20, and who has just come over from Ireland. We’ve got time to develop him and we’ve got time to see how that plays out.
‘It will be very, very similar (to Terry).
‘What we’ll do is assess Eoin first and foremost to see how he gets on in the first-team environment.
‘We’ll want him to push for a spot, we want him to push that competition in the first-team environment.
‘I think it can be a very tense prospect when you bring the youngsters in to then go: “right, we’re going to send you out on loan”.
‘We think there’s a lot of benefit he can take from being in the environment, and Terry can be a really good example.
‘He was someone who wasn’t getting in the squad but he was working everyday in that environment, making sure he was training with the right intensity, and he improved at the rate and level we wanted him to improve at.
‘It will be the same, hopefully, with Eoin.’
Devlin’s rise to Pompey player of the year
Devlin was 19 when he made his move to Pompey from Belfast-based Glentoran in June 2023.
His first season at Fratton Park saw the then midfielder feature 19 times in the league as the Blues won the League One title - six of which came as starts.
Thirteen Championship starts then followed in 2024-25 as the Northern Irishman established himself as a dependable figure in Mousinho’s ranks, with 36 appearances in all competitions.
And while that ‘dependable’ moniker remained at the start of last season, Devlin made himself indispensable to the Blues from November onwards.
Starting his first game of the Championship season against Wrexham on November 11, the 22-year-old went on to make the right-back berth his own and be one of the first names on Mousinho’s teamsheet.
Twenty-nine league starts were recorded over the rest of the campaign, a figure that came to an abrupt stop only after the Dungannon-born Fratton favourite suffered a hamstring injury in the victory against Leicester on April 18.
Understandably, Devlin has been the subject of much transfer speculation on the back of his emergence as an important Pompey regular. In January, Wrexham had a £2m offer rejected for the player.
The Blues are bracing themselves for more interest in Devlin during the current summer transfer window. But until now nothing has materialised, allowing the Northern Ireland international to be part of the group to welcome Kenny to Fratton Park.
If Pompey can make as much progress with Kenny as they did with Devlin, then they are on to another winner.
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