John O'Leary

John O'Leary (born 1961) is a Dublin-born Gaelic footballer who played for the O'Dwyers club and at senior level for the Dublin county team.

In the championship Dublin were knocked out by rivals Meath in the final for the first time since 1964.

This proved to be Dublins first loss in the Leinster championship since losing to Louth in 1973.

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 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.

1981 proved to be another unsuccessful year for O'Leary with Dublin being knocked out of the Leinster Senior Football Championship to Laois by 2–09 to 0–11 in Tullamore.

O'Leary conceded two goals in the game to Tom Prendergast (penalty) and John Costello.

In the previous round of the Leinster championship O'Leary made an amazing save from Wicklows Pat O'Byrne which proved the difference between the sides.

He received the save of the season award for the save.

1982 proved to be another unsuccessful year in the blue jersey, with Dublin losing out to Offaly in a repeat of the 1980 Leinster final.

O'Leary won his first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship with Dublin in 1983.

He got to exact his revenge on Offaly in the Leinster final by defeating them by 2–13 to 1–11.

Matt O'Connor managed to repeat his goal scoring against O'Leary but it was enough to stop Dublin at Croke Park.

Dublin went on to play Cork in the semi-final at Croke Park which finished on 2-11 a-piece.

The replay proved to be a more one-sided affair, with Dublin winning the game by 4–15 to 2–10 at a packed (43,433) Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

O'Leary then played in his first all-Ireland final at Croke Park in front of a crowd of 71,988.

Dublin defeated Galway by 1–10 to 1–08 with O'Leary claiming his first all-Ireland senior medal.

After a very successful 1983, a lot was expected of the Dublin senior football team in 1984.

O'Leary won the Leinster Senior Football Championship with a memorable win over rivals Meath in the final.

O'Leary pulled off an amazing save against Wexford in the previous round which resulted in him receiving the save of the season award.

After the Leinster final, Dublin met Tyrone in the semi-final.

This game proved controversial as the Tyrone side tried to have their pre-match kickaround in front of Hill 16 where Dublin traditionally warm up before games at Croke Park.

These attempts to unsettle the Dublin side were in vain as Dublin proved eventual winners by 2–11 to 0–8.

The final in Croke Park against Kerry proved to be Dublins first championship loss in over two years.

Despite a clean sheet by O'Leary in the game, Dublin lost by 0–14 to 1-06.

O'Leary was awarded his first All Stars Award for Dublin and was also called up to the Ireland Compromise rules side for the first time.

In 1986 O'Leary won his first Railway Cup medal for Leinster as captain.

O'Leary who was the Dublin captain in 1986, had managed to keep a clean sheet for the game but it wasn't enough to stop a 0–09 to 0–07 win over Dublin.

In 1986 he toured with the Ireland compromise rules team in Australia.

By 1987, he returned to winning medals for Dublin by claiming his first ever National Football League medal with a memorable 1–11 to 0–11 win over rivals Kerry.

Despite this sign of pre-championship form, Dublin lost out to bitter rivals Meath in their second consecutive Leinster final in Croke Park in July 1987.

Meath won the game by 1–13 to 0–12 with Mattie McCabe scoring the goal against O'Leary.

O'Leary captained the 1987 Ireland compromise rules team against Australia.

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.

He is an area manager for Permanent TSB and in 2007 was a candidate for Fianna Fáil in the constituency of Dublin North.