Amateur career Kennedy played for
Stewart's College FP. He captained the side for season 1913–14.
Provincial career Kennedy played in the inter-City match between
Glasgow District and
Edinburgh District on 3 December 1910. Edinburgh ran out victors with a 26-5 scoreline.
International career Kennedy was capped for
Scotland 5 times, all after the First World War. He scored 13 points for Scotland; and - unusually for a prop - all points came from kicks. On 5 November 1932, some years after Kennedy's death, the
Edinburgh Evening News said this of Stewarts College F.P. and Finlay Kennedy: Yet the real basis of the College advance must be ascribed the solid work performed, season after season, the forwards. D. Lunan, G. M. Beaton, W. L. Kerr, and A. D. Lambert were all on the fringe of representative class, while Kennedy, almost as soon as he left school, was playing in trial matches, and praised for his work in loose. early 1911, Kennedy was kicking penalty goals from the vicinity of midfield. and the climax of this skill in this respect came in 1920, when he placed two magnificent 50-yard penalties against Wales at Inverleith, thereby giving Scotland her first win since 1907 over the Principality. Kennedy was a splendid leader of forwards, and was the first Stewart's man play in international Rugby. ==Military career==