Kieran Kennedy

Kieran James Kennedy (born 23 September 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for National League North club York City. He is the grandson of Paddy Kennedy.

Kieran Kennedy

Personal information
Full name	Kieran James Kennedy[1]
Date of birth	(1993-09-23) 23 September 1993
Place of birth	Manchester, England[2]
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Playing position(s)	Defender
Club information
Current team	York City
Youth career
2000–2014	Manchester City
2013–2014	→ Leicester City (loan)
2014–2015	Leicester City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2017	Motherwell	22	(0)
2017	AFC Fylde	2	(0)
2017–2018	Macclesfield Town	32	(1)
2018–2019	Shrewsbury Town	1	(0)
2019	Wrexham	12	(2)
2019–2020	Port Vale	1	(0)
2019–2020	→ Wrexham (loan)	16	(1)
2020–	York City	0	(0)
National team
2011	England U19	7	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

A former England under-19 international, he began his career in the academies at Manchester City and Leicester City, before signing with Scottish Premiership side Motherwell in July 2015. He left the club to join AFC Fylde in March 2017, before moving on to Macclesfield Town four months later. He won the National League title with Macclesfield during the 2017–18 season, and was bought by Shrewsbury Town in June 2018. He failed to break into the first-team with Shrewsbury however, and was allowed to sign with Wrexham in January 2019, before he returned to the English Football League with Port Vale in June 2019. However he returned to Wrexham on loan in November 2019. He was released by Port Vale and went on to sign with York City in August 2020.

Club career

Early career

Kennedy started his career at Manchester City, and spent a total of 14 years at the club's Academy.[4] He was given the squad number 54 by manager Roberto Mancini for the 2012–13 season.[5] He joined Leicester City on loan during the 2013–14 season,[6] mainly playing in their under-21 squad, before he was signed by manager Nigel Pearson permanently in the summer.[4] He was released by Leicester after the "Foxes" retained their Premier League place at the end of the 2014–15 season.[4]

Motherwell

Kennedy initially joined Motherwell on a trial basis, but impressed in pre-season games against Borussia Mönchengladbach and SC Heerenveen to convince boss Ian Baraclough to sign him on a two-year deal on 16 July 2015; in doing so Kennedy rejected the offer of a trial game at Southend United.[7][8] Kennedy made his first-ever start in competitive football in the Scottish League Cup, in a 3–1 extra-time win at East Fife on 25 August.[9] He made his first league start four days later, in a 1–0 victory over Kilmarnock at Fir Park.[10] Stephen McManus remained first-choice centre-back under new manager Mark McGhee, whilst Kennedy competed with Louis Laing and Ben Hall to play alongside him.[11] He went on to feature 25 times for the "Well" during the 2015–16 season, helping the club to a fifth-place finish in the Scottish Premiership. However he did not make a first-team appearance during the 2016–17 campaign after struggling with illness and injuries and left the club by mutual consent in March 2017 after he asked to leave the "Steelmen" in order to find first-team football elsewhere.[12]

AFC Fylde

On 23 March 2017, Kennedy returned to England and joined National League North side AFC Fylde.[13] He made two substitute appearances for Dave Challinor's "Coasters" as Fylde secured promotion as league champions at the end of the 2016–17 season.[3]

Macclesfield Town

On 21 July 2017, Kennedy signed a one-year contract with National League side Macclesfield Town after impressing during a trial game against Derby County.[14] He scored his first competitive goal in a 2–0 win at Chester City on 28 August.[15] He helped the "Silkmen" to keep a total of 14 clean sheets in his 35 appearances as Macclesfield won promotion to the English Football League as champions of the National League in 2017–18.[2] Manager John Askey said that "it took us about six months to get him properly fit because he had been out ill for six months, but once he was fit he was a completely different player who has got a lot of ability".[16]

Shrewsbury Town

On 10 June 2018, Kennedy followed John Askey out of Moss Rose and signed for League One side Shrewsbury Town on a one-year deal; Shrewsbury paid Macclesfield an undisclosed fee.[17][18] He left the New Meadow after being released on 10 January 2019 as new "Shrews" manager Sam Ricketts preferred Mat Sadler, Omar Beckles and Luke Waterfall ahead of him.[19]

Wrexham

On 10 January 2019, Kennedy signed a six-month contract with Wrexham.[20] With Manny Smith and Doug Tharme injured, leaving only Shaun Pearson and Jake Lawlor available at centre-back, manager Graham Barrow said that "it gives us depth and would also allow us to play with three at the back if needs be."[21] He made 13 appearances for the "Red Dragons" in the second half of the 2018–19 season, scoring goals against Barrow and Sutton United at the Racecourse Ground.[22] Wrexham qualified for the National League play-off quarter-finals, but Kennedy had a goal ruled out as Wrexham were beaten 1–0 by Eastleigh; manager Bryan Hughes disagreed with the officials, saying "it was definitely a goal".[23] Kennedy was offered a new deal at the end of the season, however chose to reject it.[24]

Port Vale

On 3 June 2019, Kennedy joined League Two side Port Vale on a one-year deal.[25] Having coached Kennedy at Macclesfield and Shrewsbury, manager John Askey said that he would provide competition for established centre-backs Nathan Smith and Leon Legge.[26] He scored an own goal on his debut for the "Valiants" on 3 September, in 2–1 victory over Shrewsbury Town in an EFL Trophy tie at Vale Park.[27] He also scored an own goal on his league debut on 17 September, as Vale fell to a 2–0 at league leaders Exeter City.[28] Having failed to break into the first-team at Vale, he rejoined Wrexham on loan on 20 November.[29] The loan deal was later extended until the end of the 2019–20 season.[30] He was released by Port Vale at the end of the season.[31]

York City

On 13 August 2020, Kennedy joined National League North side York City on a one-year deal; he had previously worked under manager Steve Watson at Macclesfield Town.[32]

International career

Kennedy has been capped by the England under-19 team.[33]

Style of play

Kennedy is a right-footed left-sided centre-half, who can also play with his left-foot and at left-back, right-back or as a central defensive midfielder.[34][4][17] Port Vale manager John Askey described him as a "footballing centre-half" who combined athletic ability with composure on the ball.[34] Macclesfield coach George Pilkington concurred, saying "he's quick, he's strong in the air, he's aggressive and he's got all the ingredients to go on and kick on again".[35]

Personal life

His grandfather, Paddy Kennedy, was one of the "Busby Babes", though only played a handful of games in a seven-year career for Manchester United, Southampton and Blackburn Rovers.[11]

Career statistics

As of match played 14 August 2020

Club	Season	League			National Cup[lower-alpha 1]		League Cup[lower-alpha 2]		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Motherwell	2015–16[36]	Scottish Premiership	22	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	25	0
	2016–17[37]	Scottish Premiership	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		22	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	25	0
AFC Fylde	2016–17[3]	National League North	2	0	0	0	—		0	0	2	0
Macclesfield Town	2017–18[3]	National League	32	1	2	0	—		1[lower-alpha 3]	0	35	1
Shrewsbury Town	2018–19[38]	League One	1	0	0	0	0	0	5[lower-alpha 4]	0	6	0
Wrexham	2018–19[3]	National League	12	2	0	0	—		1[lower-alpha 5]	0	13	2
Port Vale	2019–20[39]	League Two	1	0	0	0	0	0	3[lower-alpha 4]	0	4	0
Wrexham (loan)	2019–20[3]	National League	16	1	0	0	—		0	0	16	1
York City	2020–21	National League North	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career total			86	4	3	0	2	0	10	0	101	4

1. Includes FA Cup and Scottish Cup
2. Includes EFL Cup and Scottish League Cup
3. Appearances in the FA Trophy
4. Appearances in the EFL Trophy
5. Appearances in the play-offs

Honours

Macclesfield Town

• National League: 2017–18[3]

References

1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Port Vale" (PDF). English Football League. p. 55. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
2. Hogan, Carl (10 January 2019). "SIGNED | Wrexham AFC Sign Defender Kieran Kennedy". www.wrexhamafc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
3. Kieran Kennedy at Soccerway
4. "Kennedy is signing number seven". Motherwell Football Club. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
5. Brennan, Stuart (9 July 2013). "Young City guns are all set to fire". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
6. "Leicester City are lining up a loan move for Manchester City's Kieran Kennedy". Sky Sports. 12 October 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
7. "Motherwell: Kieran Kennedy signs after Leicester exit". BBC Sport. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
8. Phillips, Chris (13 July 2015). "Kieran Kennedy turns down trial at Southend United to sign for Motherwell". Southend Echo. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
9. "East Fife 1-3 Motherwell". BBC Sport. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
10. Sutherland, Jonathan (29 August 2015). "Motherwell 1-0 Kilmarnock". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
11. "Kieran Kennedy". motherWELLnet. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
12. "Kieran Kennedy Statement". Motherwell Football Club. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
13. "Coasters make double defensive swoop". AFC Fylde Official Site. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
14. "Macclesfield Town sign Kieran Kennedy and Noe Baba". BBC Sport. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
15. "Chester 0-2 Macclesfield Town". BBC Sport. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
16. "Shrewsbury Town sign defender Kieran Kennedy". Shropshire Star. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
17. "Kennedy Joins Town". www.shrewsburytown.com. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
18. "Fejiri Okenabirhie and Kieran Kennedy: Shrewsbury Town sign duo for undisclosed fees". BBC Sport. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
19. Ryan Hillback (10 January 2018). "Shrewsbury Town terminate Kieran Kennedy contract". Shropshire Live. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
20. "Kieran Kennedy: Wrexham sign defender from Shrewsbury". BBC Sport. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
21. Bissett, Daniel (10 January 2019). "Wrexham AFC sign defender Kieran Kennedy". northwales. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
22. Griffiths, Rob (3 June 2019). "Former Wrexham AFC defender joins Port Vale". northwales. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
23. Griffiths, Rob (3 May 2019). "It has cost us our whole season - Wrexham AFC boss slams disallowed goal". northwales. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
24. "Kieran Kennedy Rejects Contract Offer At Wrexham AFC". Wrexham AFC. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
25. "Kieran Kennedy: Port Vale sign Wrexham defender on one-year deal". BBC Sport. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
26. Baggaley, Michael (4 June 2019). "Port Vale is a massive club for this league, says new signing". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
27. Baggaley, Michael (3 September 2019). "Port Vale 2, Shrewsbury 1 report as Jordan Archer fires Vale to comeback win". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
28. "Exeter City 2-0 Port Vale". BBC Sport. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
29. Baggaley, Michael (20 November 2019). "Port Vale defender joins National League Wrexham on loan". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
30. "Kieran Kennedy: Port Vale defender stays on loan at Wrexham". BBC Sport. 7 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
31. Baggaley, Michael (18 May 2020). "Port Vale release six players and offer seven new contracts in retained list". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
32. "York City sign defender Kieran Kennedy as rebuild continues". York Press. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
33. Baggaley, Michael (3 June 2019). "Who is Kieran Kennedy? All about Port Vale signing who began at Manchester City". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
34. Baggaley, Michael (3 June 2019). "John Askey on why Kieran Kennedy is the right signing for Port Vale". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
35. "First-team coach George Pilkington reckons Shrewsbury new boy Kieran Kennedy can kick on". Shropshire Star. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
36. "Games played by Kieran Kennedy in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
37. "Games played by Kieran Kennedy in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
38. "Games played by Kieran Kennedy in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
39. "Games played by Kieran Kennedy in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2019.