Neil Kilkenny

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Personal information
Neil Kilkenny
Date of birth	December 19, 1985 (1985-12-19) (age 22)
Place of birth	Enfield, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Central midfielder
Club information
Current club	Leeds United
Number	37
Youth clubs
2004	Arsenal
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004–2008 2004–2005 2007–2008 2008 2008–	Birmingham City → Oldham Athletic (loan) → Oldham Athletic (loan) → Leeds United (loan) Leeds United	26 0(0) 27 0(4) 20 0(1) 01 0(0) 15 0(1)
National team²
2007– 2006–	Australia U-23 Australia	04 0(0) 01 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:25, 27 April 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of October 27, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Neil Kilkenny (born December 19, 1985) is an English-born Australian footballer who plays for Leeds United. He is a goal-scoring attacking midfielder.

1 Career
- 1.1 National team
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Career

Born in Enfield, Middlesex, Kilkenny started his career as a youth player at Arsenal before leaving for Birmingham City in January 2004. Unable to break into the first team at Birmingham, he was loaned to League One Oldham Athletic on November 18, 2004 to gain first-team experience. He made a successful start to his spell at Oldham, bagging a brace of goals in his second game, an away fixture at Bradford City. He played a full part in Oldham's season, taking the free kick which led to the winning goal against Premier League Manchester City in the FA Cup, and ending up by winning the club's Players' Young Player of the Year award.^[1]

At the start of the 2005–06 season he re-joined the Birmingham first team squad. On September 20, 2005, he made his Birmingham first-team debut in the League Cup away at Scunthorpe United, coming on as a substitute in the 26th minute to replace Muzzy Izzet and receiving praise from manager Steve Bruce for his display.^{[citation needed]}

Only four days later, on September 24, 2005, he made his full home debut against Liverpool in the Premier League. He was sent off in the 83rd minute for handling the ball on the line, an incident which handed Liverpool a penalty and a 2–2 draw. Apart from the disappointment of his dismissal, he went on to receive credit from fellow team mates Mikael Forssell and Mario Melchiot for his performance.^[2]

On July 30, 2007 he was again loaned to Oldham, the loan period to run at least until January 1, 2008,^[3] but the move was blocked following the collapse of Birmingham's purchase of Hossam Ghaly.^[4] However the loan was finally confirmed on August 11, 2007.^[5]

When Kilkenny's loan at Oldham expired, he returned to Birmingham City. On January 4, 2008 he signed for Leeds United on an emergency loan, with a view to ensuring his availability for the next day's game prior to completing a permanent transfer the following week.^[6] He made his debut in the 3–0 win over Northampton Town, putting in an impressive performance to get the man of the match award.^[7] Kilkenny signed a three-and-a-half year permanent contract with Leeds on January 7, 2008 for a fee of £150,000.^[8]^[9] He scored his first goal for the club in their 2-0 win against A.F.C. Bournemouth, in March 2008.

[edit] National team

Kilkenny was born in England but moved to Australia with his family at a young age and grew up in Brisbane. He was eligible to play internationally for Australia, England and Ireland^{[citation needed]}. Shortly before the 2006 FIFA World Cup he committed to play for Australia. He was among a group of young players, selected by manager Guus Hiddink, who trained with the Australian squad in Holland and Germany prior to the tournament. Kilkenny made his international debut for Australia on June 7, 2006, coming on as a late substitute in their 3–1 victory in a World Cup warm-up game against Liechtenstein in Ulm, Germany.