AIDAN KEENA might have had mixed fortunes on the first day of Cheltenham — but he is confident he backed the right horse in St Pat’s. The Mullingar man was yesterday named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for February. Keena scooped the award — which he had won twice before with Sligo Rovers — for scoring three times in the Saints’ first three games, and has since extended his goal-per-game ratio to five matches. The striker’s form for the Bit O’Red earned him a move to Cheltenham Town and it is only this week that he might have cause to look in the rear-view mirror, even if his ability to enjoy the Festival was limited. Keena said: “Maybe this is the one week I’d be missing it. “We were given one day to enjoy the races. Apart from that we had training and had games so we weren’t allowed go the other days.” Speaking on Tuesday, he added: “I won the first race there but Majborough is after letting everyone down, I think, in the second so no good.” In any case, his main focus this week is a second successive Dublin derby with Bohemians coming to Richmond Park tomorrow. He confirmed he had spoken to the Gypsies about a move there but explained why his ex-Ireland Under-21 boss Stephen Kenny helped to sway him towards Pat’s. Keena, 25, said: “Yeah, I did, I spoke to Alan Reynolds. No one was really close to be honest. “I didn’t really plan on leaving Cheltenham and then it all just kind of happened quickly. I’m happy with the decision I made anyway. “I think just the fact I’d worked with Stephen before and I could see the project they were building and what they were going towards, I just thought it would suit me the best.” And he has certainly slotted in well at a club where he had previously played three times prior to making his first cross-channel move to Hearts in 2017. Although much of the focus around Inchicore is on Mason Melia — on account of the €1.9million move struck to bring him to Spurs next season — Keena has scored ten times in just 16 league games since his return. On the 17-year-old, he said: “We’ve that many forward players that you try to spark a relationship with whoever is on the pitch. “Mason has all the attributes to be a top player and it’s nice to bounce off him and give him advice. "But he doesn’t need much off me at the moment because he’s flying.” JOCKEYING FOR POSITION Keena is the safer bet to top the scoring charts this season, though, having done so with Sligo when he netted 18 times in the league in 2022. But the priority is for St Pat’s to finish top of the pile after their push at the end of last year — when nine straight wins lifted them from seventh to third — came too late. Already, they have lost two of their first five games this season. But there is an unlikely top two of Drogheda United and Waterford and, given they are a point behind defending champions Shelbourne and three clear of Shamrock Rovers, there is no sense of the Saints having lost any ground in the title race. Keena said: “I think we haven’t been as good as we can be so far for one reason or another. "I think once it all kind of settles down we might see a bit more consistency but certainly it’s an entertaining league at the minute. “You need to give credit to whoever has started well, too. “Seeing how tight it was at the end of last season when we’d a few points between the top four, every game is important, especially at this stage of the season when other teams seem to be dropping points.”