page_title: Matty Kennedy
section_title: Cardiff City
hierarchical_section_title: Matty Kennedy / Career / Cardiff City
caption_attribution_description: English: Footballer Matty Kennedy playing for Cardiff City.
context_page_description: Matthew Kennedy is a footballer who plays as a winger for Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen.
  He began his career at Kilmarnock, and represented Scotland at all youth international levels. He was sold to Everton in August 2012, and was loaned out to Tranmere Rovers, Milton Keynes Dons, and Hibernian, before being sold on to Cardiff City in February 2015. Initially a first team regular at Cardiff, he was dropped in the 2015–16 season and joined Port Vale on loan in January 2016, and then Plymouth Argyle on loan in January 2017; he helped Plymouth to achieve promotion out of EFL League Two at the end of the season. He joined Portsmouth on loan for the 2017–18 season.
  Kennedy returned to Scottish football in July 2018, signing with St Johnstone. He moved to Aberdeen in January 2020.
context_section_description: On 2 February 2015, Kennedy signed for Championship side Cardiff City on a three-and-a-half year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his full debut for the "Bluebirds" 15 days later in a 1–1 draw with Blackburn Rovers at Cardiff City Stadium, playing the full 90 minutes and producing a Man of the Match performance. He settled in well at the club, and was touted as one of manager Russell Slade's best signings for the club. He made a total of 14 league appearances in the second half of the 2014–15 season.
  Kennedy was described as a "forgotten man" after playing just one league game in the first half of the 2015–16 season. On 25 January 2016, he joined League One side Port Vale on a one-month loan. He said that he was attracted to the "Valiants" by manager Rob Page, who Cardiff coaches told him was the best man to bring out his best qualities. He began his time at Vale Park in good form, and was hopeful of extending his stay further than the initial month. After late negotiations, Cardiff agreed to extend the loan until 26 April. However, he returned to Cardiff on 7 April after being demoted from the first eleven to a place on the bench. Page said that "to go from under-21s football to playing week-in, week-out, two games a week at League One level caught up with him".
  On 31 January 2017, he joined EFL League Two club Plymouth Argyle on loan until the end of the 2016–17 season. Cardiff manager Neil Warnock predicted that Kennedy would "set the league alight" for the "Pilgrims", and his words were vindicated early on as Kennedy picked up two man of the match awards as he scored in three consecutive games – including an "outstanding" goal in a victory over West Country derby rivals Exeter City at Home Park. He went on to be nominated for the EFL League Two Player of the Month award for February. He scored five goals in 17 games to help Argyle to win promotion as runners-up of League Two.
  On 31 August 2017, Kennedy joined Cardiff teammate Stuart O'Keefe on loan at League One side Portsmouth for the 2017–18 season. He had impressed "Pompey" manager Kenny Jackett playing against the club in the EFL Cup earlier in the month. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat at Northampton Town on 12 September. After a good start to his time at Fratton Park he suffered a dip in form and ended up becoming a bit-part player, which assistant manager Joe Gallen blamed on Kennedy over-thinking his play. At the end of the 2017–18 season, Kennedy was released by Cardiff upon the expiration of his contract on 30 June.
caption: Kennedy playing for Cardiff City in 2015.
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