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Willie O'Neill (30 December 1940 – 28 April 2011) was a Scottish Association football, footballer who played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

as a full-back. Willie was a member of the famous 'Lisbon Lions' Celtic team who became the first British club to win the European Cup in 1967.

Career

O'Neill signed for Celtic in 1959, aged 18, and made his debut in the 1961 Scottish Cup Final replay against

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

. Although O'Neill did not play in Celtic's victory in the 1967 European Cup Final, he was an important member of the first team squad, making 32 appearances in the 1966–67 season. Many of those came during the first few months of the campaign (including the

1966 Scottish League Cup Final The 1966 Scottish League Cup Final was played on 29 October 1966 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and it was the final of the 21st Scottish League Cup competition. The final was contested by the Old Firm rivals Rangers and Celtic for a third consec ...

) as Jim Craig had temporarily dropped out of the team due to his

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

ry studies. At the time of O'Neill's death, Craig remarked that O'Neill was a defensive-minded full-back, who rarely made forays into the opposition's half of the field. This style of play was in keeping with the traditional function of the position, but full-backs were being expected to attack more by the mid-1960s. Indeed, fellow full-back

Tommy Gemmell Thomas Gemmell (16 October 1943 – 2 March 2017) was a Scottish football player and manager. Although right-footed, he excelled as a left-sided fullback and had powerful shooting ability. Gemmell is best known as one of the Celtic side who w ...

scored the equalising goal in the European Cup Final victory. O'Neill made a total of 86 appearances for Celtic, 55 of those in

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

matches. He represented the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

once, in 1968. He left Celtic in 1969 for

, but was forced to retire just two years later due to an ankle injury. O'Neill died on 28 April 2011, aged 70.

References

External links

William O'Neill
''The Celtic Wiki'' 1940 births 2011 deaths Men's association football fullbacks Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Footballers from Glasgow Carlisle United F.C. players Celtic F.C. players St Anthony's F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League representative players UEFA Champions League winning players {{Scotland-footy-defender-1940s-stub