Thomas Christopher Cahill (born 21 November 1986) is an English

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 ...

who plays in Australia for

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

side

Heidelberg United FC Heidelberg United Alexander Football Club (founded as Alexander the Great-Melbourne Soccer Club) established in 1958 is a football (soccer) club based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West, Victoria, Australia. The team currently ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Leyland, Lancashire Leyland () is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, six miles (10 km) south of Preston. The population was 35,578 at the 2011 Census. The name of the town is Anglo-Saxon, meaning "untilled land". History English Leyland was an a ...

Cahill attended St Mary's High School in Leyland and

Runshaw College Runshaw College is a further and higher education college based at three centres in Leyland and Chorley, Lancashire, England. History Runshaw College was established in 1974. It initially catered solely for school leavers from Balshaw's High ...

, where he was a member of their Football Academy. He played in the youth team of

West Lancashire Football League The West Lancashire Football League is a football competition based in northern England, consisting of five divisions – three for first teams (Premier, One and Two), and two for reserve teams. The league is currently sponsored by Lancaster- ...

side Euxton Villa for several years. In July 2006 he signed for Northern Premier League side

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was established in 1878 as Matlock Football Club.< ...

while studying for a law degree at

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

. In the 2006–07 season he scored the winning goal against Conference South side

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...

in the second qualifying round of the

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 ...

Rotherham United

Cahill was set to move to the United States to start a scholarship. However, after he impressed on trial, he instead signed a two-year deal with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

at the start of the 2007–08 season . Matlock received no fee for the 20-year-old, but they did manage to negotiate a 10% sell-on clause, three pre-season friendlies with ''the Millers'' over a five-year period, and first refusal on any youngsters that Rotherham were prepared to release on loan deals. Cahill was hit with niggling injuries at the start of his Rotherham career. His first appearance for ''the Millers'', came on 6 October 2007 as a 78th-minute substitute in a 3–2 home win over

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

. After two injuries, Cahill was sent on loan to Conference National side

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population ...

on 1 January 2008, where he made 11 appearances, scoring one goal on 8 January in a 2–1 victory over Kidderminster Harriers. He returned to Rotherham United on 12 March, making a further six appearances that season. In October 2008, Cahill joined Northern Premier League Premier Division side Ilkeston Town on a three-month loan deal.

Fleetwood Town

After a two-month trial period Cahill signed for Conference North side Fleetwood Town on 1 August 2009,

AFC Fylde

In summer of 2010, Cahill joined

Northern Premier League Division One North The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

outfit

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wesh ...

from Fleetwood and scored 24 goals for the Coasters as they reached the Play-off Final but lost to Chorley. He left the club in August 2011 to spend a year travelling around the world.

Move to Australia

After moving to Australia in 2011, Cahill joined

Sunshine George Cross FC Caroline Springs George Cross Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Fraser Rise, a north-western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and plays in State League Division 1, the fourth tier of football in Victoria. George Cr ...

and spent the first half of the 2012 season there, scoring 6 times in 11 appearances in the

Victorian State League Division 1 State League 1 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 4 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the overall Australian league ...

, before moving to

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

side

Richmond SC Richmond Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club from Richmond, Victoria, an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Richmond compete in the Victorian State League Division 1 South-East competition, the third tier of football in Victor ...

, where he managed 10 goals from 10 appearances. He then moved to VPL giants

Green Gully SC Green Gully Soccer Club is an Australian association football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Green Gully is one of the largest clubs in Melbourne, having participated in the now defunct National Soccer League between 1984–1986. The club c ...

for the start of the 2013 season, but his stay with the western suburbs based club was short lived, returning to Richmond in mid-2013. In the next two and a half seasons, Cahill went on to become Richmond's captain and top goalscorer in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons, the latter resulting in the promotion of the club. In 2014, his 26 goals in 22 matches saw him win the leagues golden boot award. Cahill then joined

side

Hume City The City of Hume is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes the outer north-western suburbs and a number of rural localities between 13 and 40 kilometres from the Melbourne c ...

on a two-year deal, but left from

Melbourne Knights FC Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Victoria, Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, t ...

at the end of the season after managing seven goals in 14 appearances. At Knights, Cahill managed eight goals in 22 appearances. In October 2017, he was released by Melbourne Knights. On 2 November 2017 it was announced that

had signed Cahill for the 2018 season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cahill, Tom 1986 births Living people Rotherham United F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Hume City FC players Melbourne Knights FC players English Football League players Alumni of the University of Sheffield People from Leyland, Lancashire AFC Fylde players Northern Premier League players Men's association football forwards English footballers Heidelberg United FC players English expatriate sportspeople in Australia English expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Footballers from Lancashire National Premier Leagues players