Portsmouth boss feels former Irish League star 'can be really good example' to Northern Ireland U21 striker
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho believes former Glentoran star Terry Devlin “can be a really good example” to fellow countryman Eoin Kenny as the Northern Ireland U21 striker looks to make an impact in England.
The Championship club won the race to secure Kenny’s services earlier this week amid significant competition from England and Scotland.
Kenny scored 14 goals in 34 league appearances last season for Dundalk as they secured immediate promotion back to the League of Ireland’s Premier Division and netted a further five in the top flight this term alongside providing three assists.
The 20-year-old, who is the son of former Republic of Ireland manager Stephen, has pledged his international allegiance to Northern Ireland and featured for Tommy Wright’s side during last month’s friendly defeat to Portugal.
He also started in both of March’s European Championship qualifiers against Germany and Latvia, scoring in the latter.
Kenny has signed a three-year contract with Pompey after they agreed an undisclosed fee with Dundalk and joins Devlin and Makenzie Kirk at Fratton Park.
Devlin joined Portsmouth after an impressive spell at Glentoran and has developed into one of their most important players – he was named the club’s Player of the Year last season having scored five times in 38 Championship appearances.
However, the 22-year-old had to bide his time for an opportunity and has also switched position from midfield to right-back.
As Kenny settles into life with his new club, boss Mousinho believes Devlin can be a role model for the young striker as he aims to break into the senior ranks next season.
"Eoin has had two or three really good seasons over in Ireland and we were fortunate enough to be able to take him,” Mousinho told the News Letter’s sister title The Star. “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.”