John O'Leary (born c. 1961) is a Dublin-born Gaelic footballer who played for the O'Dwyers club and at senior level for the Dublin county team.
He is an area manager for Permanent TSB and in 2007 was a 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.
[1] 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.
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.
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.
Matt O'Connor managed to repeat his goal scoring against O'Leary but it was enough to stop Dublin at Croke Park.
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 won the Leinster Senior Football Championship with a memorable win over rivals Meath in the final.
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.
1988 was a disappointing year for Dublin and O'Leary, his side failed to retain their NFL title by losing in the final with a replay against Meath in a game that finished at 2–13 to 0–11.
The Leinster championship was returned to Dublin in 1989 with O'Leary exacting revenge against Meath for the NFL loss.
Dublin won the Leinster final by 2–12 to 1–10 in Croke Park with Mattie McCabe scoring the goal against O'Leary once again.
This was a worry for the Leinster council who were in financial trouble and this tie saw the possibility of Dublin going out in the first round with seasons worth of ticket sales over in one game.
This win was turned in a matter of minutes with Kevin Foley scoring the equalising goal against O'Leary and the game finished with a spectacular point by David Beggy of Meath.
He became by captaining Dublin to NFL glory against with revenge over the previous years all-Ireland winners Donegal in the final.
After a semi final win over Munster champions Clare Dublin went on to be defeated by Ulster opposition for the second year in a row.
After a semi final win over Connacht champions Leitrim Dublin went on to be defeated by Ulster opposition for the third year in a row.
A clean sheet for O'Leary in the semi-final gave Dublin the win over Cork with great performance by Mick Galvin and Jason Sherlock.
1996 was a much quieter year for O'Leary, the two in a row dream died in Croke Park during the Leinster final.
The following year Dublin met Meath in the first round of the championship and were beaten by 1–13 to 1–10 with Paul Bealin missing a penalty in the dying minutes of the game.
In November 2006, it was announced that he would contest the 2007 general election for Fianna Fáil in the Dublin North constituency in place of retiring TD Jim Glennon.