Matthew Connolly

Matthew Thomas Martin Connolly (born 24 September 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays for Cardiff City as a defender. Having started his career at Arsenal he went moved to Queens Park Rangers, going on to win the Football League Championship in 2011. It would be the first of three titles in four years, as he won the same division again on loan at Reading in 2012 and Cardiff in 2013, whom he had joined permanently one year previously.

Career

Born in Barnet, London, Connolly attended Nicholas Breakspear R.C school started his career as a youth at Arsenal, eventually making the reserve side. In September 2006 he was made captain of Arsenal's reserves. He made his first-team debut for Arsenal on 24 October 2006, starting a League Cup third round match against West Bromwich Albion.

On 23 November 2006 Arsenal announced he was going on loan to Bournemouth until 2 January 2007. In total he played seven games for Bournemouth (five in League One and two in the FA Cup), and scored his first goal at senior level in a 2–0 win over Nottingham Forest, on 5 December 2006. He returned to Arsenal as scheduled at the start of January 2007, and came on as a substitute for Armand Traoré against Liverpool in the League Cup Quarter-finals on 9 January.