Playing week in, week out at McDiarmid Park is perfect platform for first cap call-up

Determined Matty Kennedy is planning to shine further for St Johnstone in order to flourish in the Northern Ireland set-up.

The McDiarmid Park winger was recently called up to Michael O’Neill’s squad and has been involved with training camps already.

While the majority of his Perth mates are out of action this weekend, Kennedy, who was born in Belfast, has jetted off for an international double-header.

Northern Ireland take on the Netherlands in a Euro qualifier on Thursday before hot-footing it over to Prague for a friendly with the Czech Republic on Monday.

Kennedy warmed up for those matches by netting the second in Saints’ 2-2 draw with Ross County at the weekend.

And he knows similar performances will need to follow if his international career is going to take-off.

“I’ve got to be playing every week and I felt I played really well last year,” Kennedy explained. “There is Mikey O’Halloran and Drey Wright who can also play in my position.

“David Wotherspoon is a different winger from the three of us, but is also good in that position and then you have Danny Swanson.

“So there can be up to five of us and only two or three can play every week.

“It’s going to be hard and I need to be scoring, assisting and playing well to stay in the Northern Ireland set-up.

“There are a lot of good players playing down south who are in the squad. I need to be playing week in, week out to keep getting called up.

“I was obviously born over there and it would be an honour to put on the strip. I’m delighted to have been picked.

“I’ve trained a couple of times and I’m flying over to Amsterdam, then going to Prague to play the Czech Republic. I felt like I did well in training and didn’t feel out of place. Hopefully being involved in this can make me a better player and I can kick on.”

Kennedy celebrated wildly after netting against the Staggies on Saturday and wants that feeling to return.

And he went on: “The goal meant a lot because the fans have stuck by all the players. I’ve not seen them trying to slag off any players.

“It’s for the club too and I felt good to score that goal for the manager and staff who are working every day with us.

“Personally I thought the goal was going to get us the win. You could see how much it meant to me and the boys behind me.

“That’s now four goals, two in the league and two in the cup. I want to try and get as many goals as I can this season. I got seven last year so want to beat that.”

On the 2-2 draw, Kennedy added: “In the first 20 minutes I felt like I couldn’t really get into the game, apart from a couple of crosses here and there.

“It’s a long journey and I don’t know why my legs just didn’t feel right. But I managed to get better and better as the game went on.”

See inside for the match report and more from Kennedy.