Caulfield back to field of dreams

Given that he is synonymous with the history of Cork City Football Club, it must be quite the double-whammy for the uninitiated to learn that the club’s new manager John Caulfield was (a) born some 3,000 miles from the banks of the Lee and (b) actually made his League of Ireland debut in the colours of Athlone Town.

The man who would go on to become a Cork City Hall of Famer, holding the club records for all-time appearances and all-time joint top league goalscorer, actually first saw the light of day in New York in 1964, his parents — mother from north Cork, father from Mayo — having met in the States after emigrating from Ireland.

Caulfield has no real memories of the country of his birth, however, the family coming back to settle in Roscommon when he was just two years old. Although his new home was a gaelic football stronghold, Caulfield was bitten by the soccer bug at a young age, his imagination fired by television coverage of games like the 1971 FA Cup final when a memorable Charlie George strike gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Wembley.