John Caulfield

John Caulfield (born 11 October 1964) is an Irish football coach and former player who is the manager of Galway United.

Caulfield spent the majority of his playing career at Cork City and was a 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.

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.

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

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 27 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. He was also the League of Ireland Premier Division Top Scorer in both 1991–92 and 1994–95. In 2008, he was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame.

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. 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.

Coaching career 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. 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. 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. 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 and the FAI Cup. In the 2016 FAI Cup Final, City won when Sean Maguire scored a last minute extra time goal against Dundalk. 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. The victory over Linfield ensured that Caulfield was the first American-born manager to progress in a two-legged tie in European competition. 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. 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.

Galway United In August 2020, Caulfield took over as manager of Galway United, halfway through the 2020 season following the sacking of Alan Murphy. 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 to the Premier Division, and in their first season back Caulfield guided Galway to a 5th place finish which was the club's highest since 1994. On 28 November 2025, Caulfield signed a new two-year-contract with the club.

Managerial statistics

Managerial career

Honours

Player Association football Cork City League of Ireland Premier Division 1992–93: 1 FAI Cup 1997–98: 1 League of Ireland Cup 1987–88, 1994–95, 1998–99: 3 Munster Senior Cup 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01: 11 Athlone Town League of Ireland B Division 1983–84: 1 Individual League of Ireland Premier Division Top Scorer 1991–92, 1994-95: 2

Gaelic football Cork GAA 1990 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship 1990 Munster Junior Football Championship

Manager Cork City FAI Cup Winners: 2016, 2017: 2 Runners Up: 2015, 2018: 2 President of Ireland's Cup Winners: 2016, 2017, 2018: 3 League of Ireland Premier Division Winners: 2017: 1 Runners Up: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018: 4 UCC Collingwood Cup 2011 Munster Senior League Senior First Division 2011–12 Avondale United FAI Intermediate Cup 2005–06, 2006–07: 2 Munster Senior League Senior Premier Division 2008–09, 2009–10: 2 Munster Senior League Senior First Division 2002–03: 1

Galway United League of Ireland First Division (1): 2023 PFAI 2023 First Division Manager of the Year