Conan Byrne warns against putting too much pressure on new Saint Aidan Keena

Stephen Kenny is beginning to mould St Patrick's Athletic in his image with Saints supporters hoping the arrivals of Zack Elbouzedi and Aidan Keena will sharpen their attacking edge.

However, their former midfielder Conan Byrne has warned against putting too much pressure on Keena in particular, who returns to the league after a spell at Cheltenham Town.

Kenny has turned to the 25-year-old in his search for greater potency up top.

Keena was at the Saints as a youngster, moving to Hearts in 2017, but it was at Sligo Rovers where he really enhanced his reputation.

The Mullingar man scored 18 goals in 32 games for the Bit O'Red in the 2022 campaign, and 21 in all competitions. He was the Premier Division's top scorer and earned a place in the PFAI Premier Division Team of the Year.

If he can recapture that sort of form, Pat's fans will have a new hero. But Byrne said expectations must be realistic about his potential impact.

"I think the last striker that Pat's fans will talk about is Christy Fagan, and that's nearly a decade ago now," Byrne said on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.

"Pat's need a striker that can score goals. With Aidan, I don't want to put so much pressure on him either. There's been plenty of times where players have come in and you're expecting big things, a bit like Ruairí Keating.

"Aidan had a wonderful season at Sligo, he got the 18 goals when he came back. But apart from that, he hasn't scored too many goals at the clubs he's been with. He hasn't had many starts either. If you look at his stats I think he has 45 goals in 106 starts which is pretty impressive.

"Having said that, 18 goals is his biggest return for Sligo Rovers. There's a big drop then to his next biggest season. So I'm hoping that season wasn't a one-hit