John O'Leary (Gaelic footballer)

John O'Leary

Personal information
Irish name	Seán Ó Laoire
Sport	Gaelic football
Position	Goalkeeper
Born	1961 Dublin, Ireland
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Occupation	Politician
Club(s)
Years	Club
? -?	O'Dwyers GAA
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County	Apps (scores)
1980- 1997	Dublin	70
Inter-county titles
Leinster titles	8
All-Irelands	2
NFL	3
All Stars	5

John O'Leary (born c. 1961) is a Dublin-born Gaelic footballer who played inter-county football for Dublin and club football for O'Dwyers. He is an area manager for Permanent TSB and has recently been a political candidate for Fianna Fáil in the constituency of Dublin North. O'Leary has a biography of his sporting career with Dublin co-written with Martin Breheny and published by Blackwater Press in 1997 entitled Back To The Hill.

His inter-county began with Dublin in 1978, where he was a member of the panel that won the 1978 Leinster Minor Football Championship and were beaten in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship final to Mayo. He had only appeared as a substitute for Dublin in 1978 and he became the first choice goalkeeper for Dublin in 1979. This proved to be a successful year for him, as he went on to claim his second Leinster minor medal and his first all-Ireland minor medal with Dublin.

O'Leary made his championship debut for Dublin in 1980 against Offaly in the Leinster championship final. Dublin lost the game at Croke Park by 1-10 to 1-8 with O'Leary his first goal in a Dublin shirt against Offaly with a Matt Connor goal in front of a packed crowd of 50,276. This proved to be Dublins first loss in the Leinster championship since losing to Louth in 1973. This proved a less than satisfactory debut but 1980 also brought success to the O'Dwyer's man. He won his first and only Leinster U21 Football Championship in 1980 only to be defeated in the final to Cork.

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