Mark Kennedy

Irish Footballers that Played for Liverpool - Mark Kennedy

Mark Kennedy - Introduction

Mark Kennedy was born in Dublin on 15 May 1976. A talented winger, Kennedy burst on to the English football scene with London club Milwall as a teenager. His performances were such that Liverpool manager Roy Evans broke the British transfer record to sign the Dubliner. On 21 March 1995 he became the most expensive teenager at the time when he joined Liverpool for a fee of £1,500,000.

Mark Kennedy & Liverpool

Mark Kennedy made his Liverpool debut on 9 April 1995 against Leeds United at Anfield. He was sent on after 72 minutes as a substitute for Mark Walters. Despite his efforts during this cameo, including smashing a shot off the Leeds crossbar, Liverpool lost the match 0-1. Kennedy went on to make four starts and one substitute appearance for the Reds in that season.

In the following three seasons with Liverpool FC Kennedy only managed one more start for the first team. His only other appearances were as a substitute, on 14 occasions.

Mark Kennedy's last appearance for Liverpool was on 7 March 1998 when he came on after 34 minutes for Karl Heinz Riedle in a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers at Anfield.

Mark Kennedy - Ireland Career

Mark Kennedy made his debut for Ireland on 6 September 1995 against Austria. It was a 1996 Euro qualifier at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna and the Austrians won comfortably. Stoger scored a hat trick for the home team while Paul McGrath scored the only Irish goal. Kennedy won two more caps under Republic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton but it was when Mick McCarthy took up the role that he won most of his Irish caps. In total Mark Kennedy won 34 caps for Ireland, ten of them as a substitute. In fact he scored his first goal for the Republic in a 1998 World Cup qualifier against Iceland in Reykavik after coming on as a substitute for Kevin Kilbane. Kennedy's joy at scoring his first international goal was tempered by the fact that he was sent off after receiving a second yellow card after 84 minutes. He scored a total of four goals during his international career.

Kennedy's last match for Ireland was on 13 February 2002 against Russia at Lansdowne Road (now the Aviva Stadium). It was a warm up match for Ireland's participation in the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea. Kennedy came on for Kevin Kilbane at half time as McCarthy made wholesale changes to assess who would be in the Irish 2002 World Cup squad. Unfortunately Kennedy didn't make the squad.

Mark Kennedy - Liverpool & Republic of Ireland Statistics