Education
He was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College in Cork.
cricketer association football player
He 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. While at West Ham, he featured in the London XI side that competed in the 1955-1958 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final on 1 May 1958. He captained the Hammers to winning the Division Two championship in the 1957-1958 season and thereby leading the club into the top flight for the first time since 1932.
In November 1960, Cantwell joined Manchester United for £29,500 which at the time was a record for a full back.
He also served as Chairman of the Professional Football players" Association. He made his debut against Luxembourg in October 1953.
His final appearance coming away to Turkey in February 1967. He scored 14 goals including 5 from penalties and also captained the Republic on several occasions including a match against England at Wembley.
In his first managerial role at Coventry City he had the onerous task of following Jimmy Hill who had taken the club into the First Division for the first time in their history.
He departed from Highfield Road on 12 March 1972 to take charge of the New England Tea Men in the United States of America, but within seven months was back in English football as manager of Peterborough United. This time he spent a year in the States. 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 of the New Inn at Peterborough, where he remained for 10 years until he retired in 1999.
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 making his debut in what was his sole first-class match versus Scotland at Edinburgh in 1956, scoring 31 and 17.
His last match for Ireland was against Lancashire in July 1959. Cantwell died on 8 September 2005 from cancer aged 73.
His former teams each held a minute"s silence for him before their next matches.