John Caulfield (Irish footballer)

John Caulfield
Caulfield in 2020
Personal information
Full name John Caulfield
Date of birth (1964-10-11) 11 October 1964 (age 60)
Place of birth New York City, United States
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1985 Athlone Town 1 (0)
1985–1986 Wembley
1986–2001 Cork City 455 (129)
2001–2002 Avondale United
Managerial career
2001–2002 West Cork Schoolboys
2002–2010 Avondale United
2010–2013 UCC
2013–2019 Cork City
2020– Galway United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Caulfield (born 11 October 1964) is a retired League of Ireland footballer. He has been the manager of Galway United F.C. since August 2020. Caulfield spent the majority of his playing career at Cork City F.C. and was a prominent member of the team that won the 1992–93 League of Ireland Premier Division. He was also the League of Ireland Premier Division Top Scorer in both 1991–92 and 1994–95. As a manager Caulfield has won the 2016 FAI Cup, 2017 FAI Cup and 2017 League of Ireland Premier Division with Cork City F.C. Caulfield has also played Gaelic football and represented both Roscommon and Cork at inter-county level, winning an All-Ireland title with the latter.

Family

Caulfield was born in the Bronx borough of New York City. His mother was from County Cork and his father was from County Mayo. When he was a young child he moved with his family to County Roscommon. As a schoolboy he attended matches with his father at Athlone Town, including the 1975–76 UEFA Cup game against A.C. Milan. While a boarder at Summerhill College, where he studied for his Leaving Cert, he also attended matches at Sligo Rovers.[1][2][3][4][5]

His brother Daniel is Head of Track & Field at California Vulcans[6]

Playing career

Early years

While completing his third level education at Athlone Regional College, Caulfield began playing for Athlone Town as a defender. In 1983–84, together with Turlough O'Connor and Fran Hitchcock, he was a member of the Athlone Town reserve team that won the League of Ireland B Division. He also made his first senior League of Ireland appearance with Athlone Town, coming on as substitute against Home Farm on the 27th of October 1985, making what Caulfield himself described as a "three-minute" debut. In 1985, he moved to Enniskeane and Ballineen in West Cork and began working in the local Soundstore shop. He also began playing for Wembley in the Munster Senior League.[2][3][4][5]

Cork City

Between 1986 and 2001, Caulfield played for Cork City, making his debut in a League of Ireland Cup game against Kilkenny City. Shortly after he scored the club's first hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Sligo Rovers on the 23rd of November 1986. Together with Pat Morley and Dave Barry, he subsequently became a prominent member of the City team that won the 1992–93 Premier Division, the 1997–98 FAI Cup, three League of Ireland Cups and eleven Munster Senior Cups. During this time Caulfield made 455 appearances for the club. This remains a club record. Caulfield is also the holder of several other club records including most starts (376) and most substitute appearances (79). Together with Pat Morley, he is the club's joint all-time top scorer with 129 goals.[3][7][8][9] He was also the League of Ireland Premier Division Top Scorer in both 1991–92 and 1994–95.[10][11] In 2008, he was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame.[12]

While playing for Cork City, Caulfield continued to live in Ballineen and Enniskeane where he started a family with his wife, Grainne. They have two daughters, Sinead and Aideen. Throughout Caulfield's playing career with Cork City he maintained his amateur status and worked as a sale rep, initially with Bulmers and later for Diageo. He would continue to work for Diageo until he was appointed manager of Cork City in 2013.[9][7]

Gaelic football

As well as playing association football, Caulfield has also played Gaelic football at inter-county level. He initially represented Roscommon as a minor [8] but after moving to West Cork he played for St Mary's, Carbery and then for Cork at inter-county junior level.[2][9] In 1990, he was a member of the Cork team that won the Munster and All-Ireland Junior Football Championships. In the All-Ireland final on September 9 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh he scored 1–3 as Cork defeated Warwickshire 3–16 to 0–8.[13] He continued to play for St Mary's until 2007 and was subsequently part of the coaching staff that guided the club to the 2009 West Cork Junior A Football Championship.[9][14]

Coach/Manager

Early years

While still playing for Cork City, Caulfield began attending FAI coaching courses and was tutored by, among others, Brian Kerr. He also began coaching schoolboy teams at Riverside Athletic, the Ballineen-based team that played in the West Cork League. He also coached the West Cork Schoolboys League representative team that played in the Kennedy Cup at inter-league level.[7][14]

Avondale United

Between 2002 and 2010 Caulfield served as manager of Avondale United in the Munster Senior League. During this time Caulfield transformed Avondale into one of the leading intermediate clubs in the Republic of Ireland.[15] In 2004–05 Avondale reached the Munster Senior Cup. Caulfield was initially a player/coach at Avondale and in the semi-final he scored the opening goal in a 3–1 win over Clonmel Town.[16][17][18] With Caulfield in charge Avondale won the FAI Intermediate Cup in 2005–06 and 2006–07 and two Munster Premier Division titles in 2008–09 and 2009–10.[19][20][3][7][8][9]

UCC

Between 2010 and 2013 served as manager of University College Cork A.F.C., who like Avondale United, played in the Munster Senior League. Caulfield guided UCC to success in both the 2011 Collingwood Cup and in the 2011–12 MSL Senior First Division which saw them promoted to the Senior Premier Division.[21][22][8][23][3]

Cork City

On 5 November 2013 Caulfield was appointed manager of Cork City, succeeding Tommy Dunne.[24][25][3][26] With Caulfield in charge, Cork City have finished as runners-up in the League of Ireland Premier Division in 2014, 2015 and 2016. They were also runners-up in the 2015 FAI Cup. In 2016 Caulfield guided Cork City to victory in both the President's Cup[27] and the FAI Cup. In the 2016 FAI Cup Final, City won when Sean Maguire scored a last minute extra time goal against Dundalk.[28] In the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League Caulfield guided City to the Third Qualifying Round, defeating Linfield and BK Häcken before losing out to K.R.C. Genk.[29] The victory over Linfield ensured that Caulfield was the first American-born manager to progress in a two-legged tie in European competition.[30] When Caulfield managed Cork City to the 2017 League of Ireland Premier Division title a year later, he became the first American-born manager to win a top-tier league in Europe.[31] He followed up this success by coaching his team to victory in the 2017 FAI Cup, thus completing the double.

In May 2019, Caulfield left his position as manager of Cork City after a disappointing start to the season in which the club picked up 13 points from their 14 league games.[32]

Galway United

In August 2020, Caulfield took over as manager of Galway United. United won the first five league games under his management as he guided the club to the promotion playoffs, however a loss to Longford Town saw the club remain in the Division for the following season. In 2021, after a sluggish start in which the club took just 9 points from the opening 9 league games, a strong finish to the season saw United finish 2nd behind Shelbourne. A home defeat to Bray in the playoffs saw the club again miss out on promotion. 2022 saw the club make the best ever start to a league season but a loss of form in the second half of the season resulted in a 3rd placed finish and another trip to the playoffs, this time Waterford FC ending the promotion hopes. He signed a new contract in September 2021 to bring him to the end of the 2023 season. The 2023 season saw them win the first division at the top with 94 points from 30 wins, 4 draws and only 2 losses for the entire season earning them promotion for the first time since 1994.[33]

Stats

Stats shown below are for Premier Division, FAI Cup, League of Ireland Cup and Europa League games.

Team Nat Year Record
G W D L Win %
Cork City Republic of Ireland 2014 39 25 7 7 64%
Cork City Republic of Ireland 2015 43 24 12 7 56%
Cork City Republic of Ireland 2016 44 28 9 7 64%
Cork City Republic of Ireland 2017 33 27 3 3 86%
Cork City Republic of Ireland 2018 16 11 2 3 69%
Cork City Republic of Ireland 2019 15 4 4 7 27%
Galway United Republic of Ireland 2020 13 8 1 4 62%
Galway United Republic of Ireland 2021 29 14 7 8 48%
Galway United Republic of Ireland 2022 37 19 10 8 51%
Total 269 160 55 54 59%

Honours

Player

Association football

Cork City
Athlone Town
Individual

Gaelic football

Cork GAA

Manager

Cork City
UCC
Avondale United
Galway United

Source:[10][11][3][13]

References

  1. ^ "American John Caulfield Leads Cork City Revival". americansoccernow.com. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Caulfield: I can't wait to get cracking again". www.eveningecho.ie. 22 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Caulfield: I can take City to a higher level". www.irishexaminer.com. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Caulfield back to field of dreams". www.irishexaminer.com. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  5. ^ a b Lynch, Frank (1991). A History of Athlone Town F.C: The First 101 Years. Athlone: Arcadia.
  6. ^ https://calvulcans.com/staff-directory/daniel-caulfield/8
  7. ^ a b c d "Interview with John Caulfield". totalfootballblog. 1 February 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d "Where Are They Now? – John Caulfield". www.independent.ie. 10 March 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d e "A risk John just had to take". www.southernstar.ie. 5 March 2014. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Ireland - List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  11. ^ a b Graham, Alex (2005). Football in the Republic of Ireland a Statistical Record 1921–2005. Soccer Books Limited. ISBN 1-86223-135-4.
  12. ^ "Hall of Fame". www.corkcityfc.ie. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Cork GAA Honours" (PDF). Cork GAA. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Official line must hold firm". www.independent.ie. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  15. ^ "Intermediate heavyweights Avondale intent on upsetting the odds in FAI Senior Cup". www.the42.ie. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  16. ^ "Avondale into Munster Senior Cup final". www.rte.ie. 14 June 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  17. ^ "Avondale United 0–1 Bray Wanderers". www.braywanderers.com. 10 June 2005. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  18. ^ "Munster Senior Cup final". foot.ie. 18 May 2005. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  19. ^ "Cotter's late winner seals Avondale back-to-back triumphs". www.irishexaminer.com. 14 May 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  20. ^ "Blarney Utd v Avondale Utd - Intermediate Final Photos". www.sportsfile.com. 14 May 2006. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  21. ^ "UCC's Historical Soccer Year". Student Sport Ireland. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  22. ^ "Interview: John Caulfield, Cork City FC". uccexpress.ie. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  23. ^ "UCC connections with Cork City's bid for cup glory". sport.ucc.ie. 14 June 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  24. ^ "John Caulfield named as new Cork City boss". www.independent.ie. 5 March 2014.
  25. ^ "Caulfield: I can take City to a higher level". www.extratime.ie. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  26. ^ "Cork set to name John Caulfield as manager later today". www.the42.ie. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  27. ^ "Cork City make statement of intent beating Dundalk to win President's Cup". www.irishexaminer.com. 27 February 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  28. ^ "'You give your life to this' - John Caulfield savours winning sensation for Cork City". www.irishexaminer.com. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  29. ^ "Caulfield proud despite going down 2-1 to Genk". www.irishexaminer.com. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  30. ^ Sciaretta, Brian. "Two Yanks Making a Go of It in Irish Premier League". American Soccer Now. ASN. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  31. ^ Sciaretta, Brian. "American John Caulfield Leads Cork City Revival". American Soccer Now. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  32. ^ "'The time is right' - John Caulfield and Cork City part ways after poor start to the season". Irish Independent. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  33. ^ "John Caulfield pens new deal with promotion-chasers Galway United". The 42. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.

Sources