Michael Leahy (born 30 April 1989) is an Irish former professional footballer who played for

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

clubs UCD,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 192 ...

and

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origina ...

. After retiring, he began to work with FIFPRO.

Career

UCD

Leahy started playing football with

Belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco *Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

before signing for his local

side UCD in 2007, where he played in their underage sides for 2 years. He made his debut in senior football as a 19-year-old, on 6 March 2009 on the opening day of the 2009 League of Ireland First Division season, a 2–1 win over

. He went on to make 7 more appearances for the first team that season as they went on to win the league, gaining promotion to the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland ...

. The 2010 season saw Leahy get his first taste of Premier Division football as he played in 13 league games, scoring his first career goal on 29 October away to

Sporting Fingal Sporting Fingal Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fine Gall Spórtúil) was an Irish association football club based in Fingal. Between 2008 and 2010, the club played three seasons in the League of Ireland. During their first two seasons they pl ...

. 2011 saw Leahy establish himself as a first choice centre back in the team, being made club captain by manager

Martin Russell Martin Russell is an English recording engineer, record producer, composer, and musician. He has been a core member of the music group Afro Celt Sound System since the recording of the first album '' Volume 1: Sound Magic'' in mid-1995, and has t ...

and also playing 37 games in all competitions. He played 29 league games in 2012 as UCD finished 9th. The following season in 2013 however was hampered by injuries for Leahy as he missed the majority of the season through injury but played in the last 10 games of the season.

Limerick spell and return to UCD

Leahy signed for

ahead of the 2014 League of Ireland season, his first full-time professional contract. On 27 May 2014, Leahy played in the Munster Senior Cup Final as Limerick lost 2–1 to Douglas Hall. The season turned out to be a distater for Leahy as he again missed the vast majority through injury, playing just 7 league games for Limerick, leaving him only with contract offers from bottom half teams for the following season. For this reason Leahy returned to part-time football, signing back for UCD in the First Division, playing whilst also studying to become a solicitor. Despite being relegated the previous season, UCD qualified via Fair Play to play in the

2015–16 UEFA Europa League The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2016 UEFA E ...

qualifiers. This gave Leahy his first taste of European football as he played in both games as they knocked out

F91 Dudelange F91 Dudelange (; lb, F91 Diddeleng, italic=no, ) is a Luxembourger professional football club based in Dudelange which plays in the Luxembourg National Division. It was formed in 1991 as a merger between three teams in the town: Alliance Du ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

, before being knocked out by Slovakia's

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the m ...

. He scored 4 goals as UCD made the promotion play-offs but were beaten over 2 legs by

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was t ...

in the semi-finals.

Sligo Rovers

Leahy went on trial with

in pre-season, impressing manager Dave Robertson and signing for the Bit 'O' Red ahead of the 2016 season. He was a key figure for Rovers as they finished in an impressive 5th place. On 16 November 2016, Leahy signed a new one-year contract with Sligo for the 2017 season. The season turned out to be a poor one for Sligo as their poor form saw Robertson sacked and replaced by Gerard Lyttle. Leahy's form was impressive however as he scored 4 vital goals over the season that helped Sligo stay up, as it took them until the final game of the season to secure their Premier Division status.

St Patrick's Athletic

Leahy returned to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

and signed for

on 17 January 2018, given the number 23 shirt. Leahy made his debut on 9 April 2018 in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

at home to

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is hal ...

as the Saints lost 8–7 in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

following a 4–4 draw

after extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

. The game was a very eventful debut for Leahy as, in a seven-minute spell in the first half of extra time, he scored his first goal for Pats by heading in a James Doona corner, he then scored an own goal at the other end, and then restored the Saints lead with a second goal, a diving header from another

Doona Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species ''Shorea'' is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the governor-general of the British East India Company, 1793–1798. Th ...

set piece, all of this while also scoring his penalty in the shootout.

Personal life

After leaving

, Leahy moved to Australia in 2019 for a year playing semi-professionally over there before, before returning home and then moving to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in late 2020, to join the Global Policy & Strategic Relations team at FIFPRO.

Career statistics

''Professional appearances – correct as of 13 December 2018.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leahy, Michael 1989 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Sligo Rovers F.C. players Limerick F.C. players University College Dublin A.F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players League of Ireland players Men's association football defenders