Luke Leahy (born 19 November 1992) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who plays as a defender or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

. He started his career at Rugby Town and signed for Falkirk in 2012, where he played for five seasons.

Club career

Leahy began his career with Rugby Town, affiliated with the

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

Football Foundation.

Falkirk

He signed for Falkirk in the summer of 2012, after trials with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

and

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

. He was signed by Steven Pressley originally as an attacking midfielder, despite the fact he had played left-back for Rugby Town the previous season. He made his first team début in the Scottish Challenge Cup against

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in Scottish League Two as a member of the ...

on 28 July 2012. His league debut came in September against

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

as a substitute in the 72nd minute of the game. On 10 November 2012, he scored his first goal for The Bairns against

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

at Stark's Park. However, he would only go on to make three further appearances that season; two of which were from the bench. Leahy continued to be a peripheral figure under Gary Holt as he struggled to stake a claim for a place in the side; on 7 September 2013, he was even listed as the substitute goalkeeper for Falkirk in their Scottish Challenge Cup Quarter Final against

, as Falkirk didn't have a third choice keeper to put on the bench. He made 23 appearances in all competitions in season 2013/14, most of which were from the bench, and managed a solitary goal; an injury time equaliser against Dundee at

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yard ...

Peter Houston Peter Houston (born 19 July 1958) is a Scottish football player and manager who is currently assistant manager of the Scotland under-21 side. Houston played as a striker for Airdrieonians, Livingston United, Albion Rovers, Falkirk, Dumbart ...

became Falkirk manager in the summer of 2014, just after Leahy had signed a new two-year contract extension. Houston was the first manager to give Leahy a chance to hold down a place in the side. He was on the bench for the first four league games of season 2014/15, but started the 1–1 draw with Queen of the South on 13 September 2014 at left-back, and has since made the position his own. Leahy made 41 appearances in all competitions; he also started the 2015

Scottish Cup Final The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a knockout cup competition in Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the third oldest existing football competition in the w ...

for Falkirk against

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

, which they lost 2–1. He continued to be a mainstay in the Falkirk team that had a fantastic season finishing 2nd in the 2015/16

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

, making 46 appearances across all competitions. On 22 August 2015, he scored what would go on to be voted Falkirk's goal of the season in a 2–1 win against

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

Almondvale Almondvale Stadium, also known as the Tony Macaroni Arena for sponsorship purposes, but most commonly referred to as ‘The Spaghettihad’ (alluding to the Etihad Stadium), is a football stadium, located in the Almondvale area of Livingston, We ...

. On 19 February 2016, Leahy penned a one-year extension with Falkirk, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2017. Leahy left the Bairns in May 2017, following the expiration of his contract.

Bristol Rovers

He was released by Walsall at the end of the 2018–19 season. On 9 July 2019, Leahy joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

. He made his debut for the club on 3 August 2019, in an opening 2–0 defeat away at Blackpool. He scored his first goal for the club on 10 November 2019, opening the scoring at the back-post in a 1–1 draw with

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

first round. Leahy scored his first league goal for Rovers on the opening day of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, converting a penalty in a 1–1 draw away at Sunderland. With the appointment of Rovers' third manager of the season

Joey Barton Joseph Anthony Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He made 269 appearances in the Premier League, including 130 for Manchester City. He is currently the man ...

, Leahy was made captain of the club as Max Ehmer lost his armband. On 10 April 2021, Leahy scored his tenth goal of the season to open the scoring in a vital relegation six-pointer against

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, a game in which Rovers would go on to draw 1–1. Leahy was out of contract at the end of the 2020–21 season, a season that saw Rovers relegated bottom of the league. Despite an offer of a new contract from the club, Leahy opted to leave instead.

Shrewsbury Town

On 17 May 2021, Leahy agreed to join

, signing a two-year contract from 1 July 2021.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

EFL League One Player of the Month The EFL League One Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League One, the third tier of English football. Originally named the Football League One Pla ...

: January 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leahy, Luke 1992 births Living people Footballers from Coventry English footballers Association football fullbacks Rugby Town F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Southern Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players