Noel Euchuria Cornelius Cantwell (28 February 1932 – 8 September 2005) was an 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, rugb ...

player and sometime

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er.

Club career

Cantwell was born in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland, and was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College in Cork. Cantwell played as a full-back for Western Rovers, Cork Athletic, West Ham United and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. While at West Ham, he featured in the

London XI The London XI was a football team that represented the city of London in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The competition began in 1955, and the first tournament took three years to complete. The entrants were the major football team of ...

side that competed in the 1955–58

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup ( ...

final on 1 May 1958. He captained the Hammers to winning the Division Two championship in the 1957–58 season and thereby leading the club into the top flight for the first time since 1932. In November 1960, Cantwell joined

for £29,500 which at the time was a record for a full back. He helped the club win the 1965 and 1967 league titles and captained United when winning the 1963 FA Cup Final – just as his fellow countryman Johnny Carey had done in United's previous FA Cup win 15 years earlier. He also served as Chairman of the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

International career

Cantwell won 36 full International caps 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 the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

(typically playing at left full back and on several occasions at centre forward) and he made his debut against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in October 1953; his final appearance coming away to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

in February 1967. He scored 14 goals including 5 from penalties and also captained the Republic on several occasions including a match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Managerial career

In his first managerial role at

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

Cantwell had the onerous task of following

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including player, trade union leader, coach, manager, director, ...

who had taken the club into the First Division for the first time in their history. Cantwell narrowly kept the Sky Blues in the top in his first two seasons before taking them to a sixth-place finish in 1969–70, earning them qualification for the

(a year before it was replaced by the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

). He departed from

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game ...

on 12 March 1972, but within seven months was back in

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

as manager of Peterborough United. He helped Peterborough win the Fourth Division title in his first full season as manager, before leaving on 10 May 1977 to manage the

New England Tea Men The New England Tea Men were an American professional soccer team based in Greater Boston. They played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1978 to 1980. Their home venues for outdoor play were Schaefer Stadium (shared with the NFL's ...

. He returned to Peterborough on 19 November 1986 for a second spell as manager, remaining in this role until he became general manager on 12 July 1988. He was general manager at London Road for a year until he quit football to become

licensee A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, a licensee is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the li ...

of the New Inn at Peterborough, where he remained for ten years until he retired in 1999. He also was landlord of the Bull and Swan in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Cricket career

Cantwell also played cricket for Cork Bohemians Cricket Club and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

as a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium bowler. He played five times for Ireland making his debut in what was his sole first-class match versus

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1956, scoring 31 and 17. His last match for Ireland was against

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 Lancas ...

in July 1959.

Death

Cantwell died on 8 September 2005 from cancer aged 73. He left a widow Maggie and two children. His former teams each held a minute's silence for him before their next matches.

Football career statistics

:''Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cantwell goal.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantwell, Noel 1932 births 2005 deaths Deaths from cancer in England Association footballers from County Cork Coventry City F.C. managers Association football fullbacks Irish cricketers English Football League players Manchester United F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. managers Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers West Ham United F.C. players League of Ireland players Cork Athletic F.C. players Republic of Ireland football managers Republic of Ireland national football team managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Ireland (FAI) international footballers London XI players People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork Cricketers from County Cork Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Republic of Ireland expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in the United States FA Cup Final players Publicans