Noel Cantwell
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Noel Euchuria Cornelius Cantwell (February 28, 1932 – September 8, 2005) was an Irish cricketer and football player born in County Cork, Irish Free State. He was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College in Cork.
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[edit] Club career
Cantwell played as a full-back for Western Rovers, Cork Athletic, West Ham United (1952-1960) (248 appearances and 11 goals), and Manchester United (1960-1967).
While at West Ham, he featured in the London XI side that competed in the 1955-58 Inter-Cities Fairs 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 1930.
In November 1960, Cantwell joined Manchester United. He helped the club win the 1965 and 1967 league titles and captained United when winning the 1963 FA Cup. He joined United in 1960 and left the club in 1967 after scoring eight goals.
He also served as Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association.
[edit] International career
He won 36 full International caps for Ireland (typically playing at left full back and on several occasions at centre forward), scoring 14 goals and also captained the Republic on several occasions including a match against England at Wembley.
[edit] Management career
In his first managerial role at Coventry City he had the onerous task of following Jimmy Hill who had led the Sky Blues from Division Three to Division One in four years. Cantwell kept the Sky Blues in the top flight by the skin of their teeth in his first two seasons before taking them to a sixth place finish, and qualification for a European place in 1969-70.
He left Coventry in March 1972 to manage the New England Tea Men before leading Peterborough United to the Fourth Division title in 1973-74. He had further spells with the Tea Men (1977-1978) and Peterborough (1986-1988). He left management to serve as General Manager at Peterborough United (1988-1989).
On leaving Peterborough United, he became licensee of the New Inn at Peterborough, where he worked for 10 years before retiring in 1999.
[edit] Cricket career
He also played cricket for Cork Bohemians Cricket Club and Ireland as a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium bowler. He played five times for Ireland [1] making his debut in what was his sole first-class match [2] versus Scotland at Edinburgh in 1956, scoring 31 and 17. [3] His last match for Ireland was against Lancashire in July 1959. [4]
[edit] Death
Noel Cantwell died on September 8, 2005, after a battle against cancer at the age of 72. He left a widow Maggie and two children.
His former teams each held a minute of silence for him before their next matches.
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