James Anthony O'Neill (13 October 1931 – 15 December 2007) was an Irish international

football goalkeeper Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. He played 405 league games in a 17-year career in the Football League, and also won 17

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. Though only , he was able to use his acrobatic ability to save the ball. He spent the whole of the 1950s with Everton, helping the "Toffees" to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1953–54. He was sold on to Stoke City for £5,000 in July 1960, and helped the "Potters" to top the Second Division table in 1962–63. He moved on to Darlington in March 1964, before signing with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in February 1965. He was

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

ed out to

Cork Celtic Cork Celtic F.C., originally Evergreen United F.C., was an Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1951 and 1979 and played their home games at Turners Cross. In 1974, they were League of Ireland champion ...

in December 1966, before being allowed to join the club permanently on a free transfer in May 1967. He retired the following year, and later ran a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

firm in

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

Club career

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

-born O'Neill played junior football in Republic of Ireland for Bulfin United, and was an Irish schoolboy international. He was spotted in a youth international match in Brentford by Everton and signed as a professional with the club in May 1949, the "Toffees" seeing him as a potential replacement for 39-year-old

Ted Sagar Edward Sagar (7 February 1910 – 16 October 1986) was an English footballer who played for Everton and England. He was a goalkeeper who joined Everton as an apprentice in 1929 after playing for Thorne Colliery in Yorkshire and made his deb ...

. He made his début as an 18-year-old against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in August 1950. Everton were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

out of the First Division in 1950–51. They finished seven points short of

in 1951–52, before dropping to 16th in 1952–53, just five points above relegation. O'Neill played in the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-final against Bolton Wanderers, and shared the goalkeeping duties with

Harry Leyland Harry Kenneth Leyland (12 May 1930 – 6 December 2006) was a Liverpool-born association football, footballer who made 36 Football League appearances for Everton F.C., Everton before transferring to Blackburn Rovers. He was outstanding in the 1 ...

during the

campaign of 1953–54, as

Cliff Britton Clifford Samuel Britton (29 August 1909 – 1 December 1975) was an English football player and manager. Playing career After playing amateur football for a number of teams in the Bristol area, his professional playing career began when he sig ...

led the club to a second-place finish, behind champions

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on goal average but ahead of

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

by a single point. Everton then finished 11th in the top-flight in 1954–55, and 15th in 1955–56. New boss

Ian Buchan Ian Buchan (c.1920–1965) was manager of Everton Football Club from 1956 to 1958. There had been a brief period after the departure of the previous manager, Cliff Britton when Everton was run by a committee. The reason for Buchan's appointm ...

led the club to 15th in 1956–57 and 16th in 1957–58. O'Neill did not get along with new

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Johnny Carey John Joseph Carey (23 February 1919 – 22 August 1995) was an Irish professional footballer and manager. As a player, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 1953 ...

and so became unsettled. He remained though for further mid-table campaigns in 1958–59 and 1959–60, and played a total of 213 league and cup games during his time at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

. He joined

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...

's Stoke City for £5,000 in July 1960. He played 47 games in 1960–61, as the club struggled in

, He played 46 games in 1961–62, as Stoke were boosted by the return of the legendary

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

. O'Neill was an ever-present in the 45 match 1962–63 season, as the "Potters" won the Second Division championship. However, in 1963–64 Waddington placed his faith in the new signings of Bobby Irvine and

Lawrie Leslie Lawrence Grant Leslie (17 March 1935 – 4 June 2019) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Hibernian, Airdrie, West Ham United, Stoke City, Millwall and Southend United. Internationally, he represented Scotlan ...

and O'Neill, the eldest of the three, was now the third choice keeper. Unable to accept this arrangement he moved on to Fourth Division club Darlington in March 1964. He had made 149 league and cup appearances in four years at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

. Darlington finished one point above the re-election zone in 1963–64, and again struggled in 1964–65. He made 32 league appearances during his eleven months at

Feethams Feethams is a cricket and former football grounds in Darlington, England. The cricket ground has hosted Durham CCC matches. The football ground was the home of Darlington F.C. for from 1883 to 2003 until the club moved into another ground, ...

. In February 1965 he moved on to

, who were then managed by Jackie Mudie. He was preferred ahead of Ken Hancock and Reg Davies, and played 13 games of the 1964–65 season, as the "Valiants" were relegated out of the Third Division. He played 35 games in 1965–66, but lost his place to new signing Stuart Sharratt in March. In December 1966 he was

ed out to

back in his home country, and made his

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 ...

debut on 18 December. He joined permanently on a free transfer in May 1967. He retired in 1968.

International career

O'Neill won his first

in a 6–0 defeat at the hands of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on 1 June 1952 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. Despite conceding six it was Ireland's defenders who were culpable for the goals and so O'Neill was retained, and went on to win another 16

s for his country. He played three games of qualifying for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

, and one game of qualifying for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He fell out of the international scene after Alan Kelly established himself as Ireland's number one.

Style of play

O'Neill was not a tall man, but he was an extremely acrobatic keeper with a natural ability to catch powerful airborne shots and make it look easy. He was adept at dealing with crosses and had excellent handling abilities.

Post-retirement

Following his retirement from football he ran a

firm in

. At the time of his death, 15 December 2007, he was living in Marians Drive, Ormskirk,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

Career statistics

Club statistics

Source:

International statistics

Honours

Everton *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

second-place promotion: 1953–54 Stoke City *

: 1962–63

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Jimmy 1931 births 2007 deaths Businesspeople from County Dublin Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Everton F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Cork Celtic F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players Ireland (FAI) men's international footballers