John O'Brien (born 3 January 1982) is an Irish hurler who played as a centre-forward for the Tipperary senior team.
After making his senior championship debut as a seventeen-year-old in 1999, Toomevara went on to qualify for a second successive county final.
After a number of early exits from the provincial championship in recent years, Toomevara subsequently defeated Mount Sion by just a single point to give O'Brien his first Munster medal.
A thrilling 1-21 to 2-14 defeat of Nenagh Éire Óg, in which O'Brien top scored with 1-4 from play, saw Toomevara take the title once again.
That year Tipperary broke through Limerick's stranglehold on the championship and O'Brien secured a Munster medal following a 2-14 to 0-17 defeat of Cork after extra-time.
[citation needed] O'Brien made his senior debut on 21 April 2001 in a 1-16 to 0-13 group stage defeat of Laois in the National League.
[14] Later that year he made his championship debut when he came on as substitute for Lar Corbett in the provincial decider against Limerick.
He later collected a second Munster medal as Tipperary continued their winning streak with a 2-21 to 0-19 defeat of a resurgent Clare.
For long periods Tipp looked the likely winners, however, late goals from Henry Shefflin and substitute Martin Comerford finally killed off their efforts to secure a 2-22 to 0-23 victory.
"The Cats" lost talisman Henry Shefflin early in the game due to injury, while Tipp's Lar Corbett ran riot and scored a hat-trick of goals before Noel McGrath added a fourth.
Goals by Michael Fennelly and Richie Hogan in either half gave Kilkenny, who many viewed as the underdogs going into the game, a 2-17 to 1-16 victory.
John O'Dwyer had the chance to win the game, however, his late free drifted wide resulting in a draw.
I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and made it possible for me to play, most importantly my family and friends, my club Toomevara, the management and backroom teams throughout those years which are too many to mention and also the Tipperary public.