Alan Cawley (born 3 January 1982 in Sligo) is a retired Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Career

Before signing for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

Cawley attended

Summerhill College Summerhill College (aka The College of the Immaculate Conception) is a Roman Catholic voluntary secondary school for boys located in the town of Sligo in northwest Ireland. History The school was founded in 1857 by then-Bishop of Elphin, Dr L ...

in Sligo. He began his career at Leeds United and had a spell at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

before returning to Ireland to sign for UCD. His impressive performances for the students earned him a move to Shelbourne where he won a league winners medal. He had loan spells at

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

and

Waterford United Waterford Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Phort Láirge) formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland First Division. The club was founded and elected to the ...

before returning for a second spell at Belfield. Cawley made his debut for St Patrick's Athletic on 18 February 2009 vs a

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

XI, when he scored his first goal for the club, a wonderful free kick into the top left corner. Cawley signed for

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

on 24 December 2009, making him newly-appointed manager Ian Foster's first signing at the club. Foster commented "I am pleased to be able to complete the first of my new signings for next season, and Alan is a player who has impressed me over the last couple of seasons. He is a natural footballer who revels in playing the ball on the ground and is a natural fit for the attacking style that I want to employ." After being plagued with injury throughout the 2010 season Cawley made only ten appearances. On 6 February Cawley signed for

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

. Cawley is Sligo native and has represented Ireland at all levels up to Under 18. He is a regular pundit on ''

Soccer Republic ''Soccer Republic'' is RTÉ's main football television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two on Monday nights during the Irish football season, showing highlights of recent matches in Irish football's top division, the League of Ireland Premier Divis ...

'' on RTÉ television and on ''Game On'', RTÉ 2FM radio's daily sports show from 6p.m.-7p.m. Monday to Friday.

Honours

;Shelbourne *

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

(1): 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cawley, Alan 1982 births Living people People from Sligo (town) Association footballers from County Sligo Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers University College Dublin A.F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Longford Town F.C. players Waterford F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players League of Ireland players Portadown F.C. players NIFL Premiership players People educated at Summerhill College Belvedere F.C. players Association football midfielders