Matthew James "Matt" Doherty (born 16 January 1992) is an Irish footballer who plays as a right back for English club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Doherty was signed by Wolves in 2010, who played his Irish club Bohemians during pre-season. He gained senior football experience with loan spells at Hibernian and Bury, respectively, before beginning to regularly feature in Wolves first team.
Club career
Doherty was spotted by Wolverhampton Wanderers while playing for Bohemians in a pre-season game against them in July 2010. Despite never having played a first team game for Bohs, he was invited for a trial and soon signed a two-year deal (with the option of a further year) to move to the English club for a reported £75,000 fee.
The defender made his Wolves debut on 8 January 2011 in an FA Cup tie against Doncaster Rovers,before making his Premier League debut on 24 September 2011 at Liverpool.
In January 2012 Doherty was loaned to Scottish Premier League club Hibernian for the latter part of the 2011–12 season.Here, he played in every defensive position, although his preference was right-back.After making his debut in a 1–0 victory against Kilmarnock on 4 February in the Scottish Cup, he went on to make a total of 17 appearances for the club, in which he scored twice. His final game of the loan spell was the 2012 Scottish Cup Final, against Edinburgh derby rivals Hearts, where Hibs lost 1–5. Dohertys post-match comments in interviews and on Twitter were criticised by some Hibernian fans,and Doherty later apologised for the teams performance.
In October 2012, Doherty was again loaned out, joining League One club Bury in a three-month deal. Two days later, Doherty made his debut for Bury, in a 0–1 defeat to Swindon Town, in the first of 22 appearances for the club. He established himself in the first team, playing in the right-back position and earning praise from manager Kevin Blackwell.However financial troubles at Bury meant that their loan players, such as Doherty, were sent back to their parent clubs in January 2013.
With Dean Saunders appointed Wolves manager in January 2013, Doherty was soon promoted to becoming the clubs regular right-back and he featured throughout the final months of the 2012–13 season as the team battled unsuccessfully to avoid a second consecutive relegation.
Under Saunders successor, Kenny Jackett, Doherty has retained his place in the Wolves team and, in September 2013, signed a new contract to keep him at the club until summer 2016.
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