Matty Smith (footballer, born 1997)

Matthew Smith (born 13 March 1997) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a forward for League of Ireland Premier Division side Shelbourne. He started his career with Dundee United and made his first team debut in May 2016, and subsequently had loan periods with Montrose and Cove Rangers before moving to Ireland with Waterford, St Patrick's Athletic and Derry City.

For other people named Matthew Smith, see Matthew Smith (disambiguation).

Matty Smith
Personal information
Full name Matthew Smith
Date of birth (1997-03-13) 13 March 1997
Place of birth Dundee, Scotland
Position(s)
Winger
Striker
Team information
Current team
 Shelbourne
Number 11
Youth career
Fairmuir Boys Club
Dundee United Social Club
Aberdeen
Celtic
St Johnstone
2014–2016 Dundee United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2020 Dundee United 27 (3)
2017 → Montrose (loan) 16 (2)
2019–2020 → Cove Rangers (loan) 8 (2)
2020 Waterford 18 (2)
2021 St Patrick's Athletic 32 (11)
2022 Derry City 19 (3)
2022 → Shelbourne (loan) 11 (2)
2023– Shelbourne 18 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17 August 2023

Early life

Matty Smith was born in Dundee on 13 March 1997. He attended Monifieth High School. He played youth football for St Johnstone for seven years, prior to joining Dundee United.[1]

Club career

Smith signed professionally for Dundee United in July 2014. He made his first team debut against Partick Thistle in a Scottish Premiership match on 10 May 2016.[2]

In January 2017, he was sent on loan to Scottish League Two side Montrose until the end of the 2016–17 season.[3] He made his debut for Montrose in a 2-1 victory at home to Cowdenbeath where he was also sent off.[4]

Smith was given a first team chance for Dundee United in July 2017 due to injuries to other forwards. He scored his first goal for the club against Cowdenbeath in the Scottish League Cup,[5] but an injury in training ruled him out of the subsequent Dundee derby and for the next six weeks.[6] His first league goal for United came in a 2–1 defeat at Livingston in February 2018.[7] A 20-yard strike he scored in a 3-1 victory against Queen of the South was voted Dundee United's goal of the 2017-2018 season at the club's annual awards.[8] On 29 May 2018, it was announced that Smith had signed an extension to his contract at Dundee United until May 2020.[8] The club's manager Csaba László welcomed the news and commented Smith had 'shown he can be an essential player for us.[8]

On 15 August 2019, Smith joined Cove Rangers on loan until January 2020.[9] Smith left Dundee United in January 2020 and signed for Irish club Waterford.[10] In January 2021 he was transferred from Waterford to another Irish club, St Patrick's Athletic, where he would team up with former Dundee United teammate Billy King.[11] He made his debut for the club in the opening game of the season, a 1–1 draw away to Shamrock Rovers in a Dublin derby on 19 March 2021.[12] Smith scored his first goal for the Saints on 23 April 2021, heading home the second goal in a 2–0 win away to Finn Harps at Finn Park.[13] On 8 August 2021, he scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season in a 4–1 win away to Dundalk at Oriel Park.[14] Smith scored in the FAI Cup Semi-final on 22 October 2021 to give his side a 2–1 lead over Dundalk in an eventual 3–1 win to earn a place in the 2021 FAI Cup Final.[15] A week later, on 29 October 2021 he scored his first career hat-trick, scoring a perfect hat-trick in a 4–1 win away to Longford Town as well as assisting the other goal in a win that secured UEFA Europa Conference League football for his club for the following season.[16][17] On 28 November 2021 Smith was in his sides starting XI in the 2021 FAI Cup Final, as they defeated rivals Bohemians 4–3 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time in front of a record FAI Cup Final crowd of 37,126 at the Aviva Stadium.[18]

On 31 January 2022, Smith signed a 2 year contract with Derry City.[19] He made his career debut in European competition on 7 July 2022 against Riga FC in the UEFA Europa Conference League but was harshly sent off during a 2–0 loss for an altercation with Ngonda Muzinga.[20]

On 28 July he signed for Shelbourne on loan until the end of the season.[21] After 2 goals in 15 appearances in all competitions during his loan spell, on 2 December 2022, it was announced that Smith would be joining Shelbourne on a permanent basis for the 2023 season.[22] His first goal of the season coming on 10 April 2023 in a 2-1 win against Sligo Rovers.[23]

Career statistics
As of match played on 9 June 2023[24]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dundee United 2015–16[25] Scottish Premiership 2000000020
2016–17[26] Scottish Championship 0000000000
2017–18[27] 17310113[lower-alpha 1]0224
2018–19[28] 8000302[lower-alpha 2]1131
2019–20[29] 0000000000
Total 273104151375
Montrose (loan) 2016–17[26] Scottish League Two 16200002[lower-alpha 3]0182
Cove Rangers (loan) 2019–20[29] Scottish League Two 8210001[lower-alpha 2]0102
Waterford 2020[30] League of Ireland Premier Division 18210——192
St Patrick's Athletic 2021[30] League of Ireland Premier Division 321141——3612
Derry City 2022[30] League of Ireland Premier Division 193——1[lower-alpha 4]0203
Shelbourne (loan) 2022[30] League of Ireland Premier Division 11240——152
Shelbourne 2023[30] League of Ireland Premier Division 18400—1[lower-alpha 5] 0184
Career total 149291114110117432
  1. Two appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup and one appearance in the Scottish Premiership play-offs
  2. Appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup
  3. Appearances in the League One play-offs
  4. Appearances in the UEFA Europa Conference League
  5. Appearances in the Leinster Senior Cup

Honours

Cove Rangers

St Patrick's Athletic

References
  1. "Development squad - Matthew Smith". Dundee United F.C. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  2. Duthie, Tom (10 May 2016). "Dundee United 3 Partick 3: United fight back to earn a point". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  3. "Loan out: Matty Smith joins Montrose". Dundee United FC. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  4. "Montrose FC Online - Montrose v Cowdenbeath 21/01/17 - Lineups".
  5. Duthie, Tom (25 July 2017). "Dundee United kid Matty Smith in line for a derby start". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  6. Duthie, Tom (7 October 2017). "Young striker Matty Smith looking to take his chance for Dundee United in cup tie against Linfield". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  7. Roache, Ian (23 February 2018). "Livingston 2 Dundee United 1: Ryan Hardie hammer blow as Tangerines lose last-gasp goal". The Courier. Dundee. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  8. "Matty Smith Extends Contract". dundeeunitedfc.co.uk. Dundee United FC. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  9. "Matty Smith Joins Cove on Loan". The Official Website of Dundee United Football Club. Dundee United Football Club. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  10. "MATTY SMITH JOINS WATERFORD". dundeeunitedfc.co.uk. Dundee United FC. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  11. O'Hehir, Paul (13 January 2021). "Matty Smith swaps Waterford for St Pat's". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  12. "League Report: Shamrock Rovers 1 - 1 St Patrick's Athletic". ExtraTime.com.
  13. "League Report: Finn Harps 0 - 2 St Patrick's Athletic".
  14. Landy, Barry (8 August 2021). "Pat's profit from Dundalk errors to win in Oriel Park". RTÉ.ie.
  15. Buttner, Paul. "St Pats knock out FAI Cup holders Dundalk to set up Bohs final". The Irish Times.
  16. Buttner, Paul (29 October 2021). "Matty Smith's hat-trick fires St Patrick's Athletic into Europe". Irish Examiner.
  17. O'Flaherty, Deniese (29 October 2021). "Matt's Entertainment! Smith hat-trick helps Pat's ease to victory over Longford". The42.
  18. Leahy, Ed (28 November 2021). "Benson spot on as Saints beat Bohs to lift the FAI Cup". RTÉ Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster.
  19. Barr, Ethan (31 January 2022). "Welcome Matty Smith". Derry City Football Club.
  20. "Derry City go down to disappointing home loss". BBC Sport. 7 July 2022.
  21. "Matty Smith joins the Reds". 28 July 2022.
  22. "Matty Smith joins the Reds for 2023". 2 December 2022.
  23. SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division Round 9 | Shelbourne 2-1 Sligo Rovers | Highlights, retrieved 15 April 2023
  24. "Scotland – M.Smith". Ie.soccerway.com. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  25. "Games played by Matthew Smith in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  26. "Games played by Matty Smith in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  27. "Games played by Matty Smith in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  28. "Games played by Matty Smith in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  29. "Games played by Matty Smith in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  30. "Scotland - M. Smith - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway".
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