Pierce O'Leary (born 5 November 1959) is an Irish former professional
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 ...
. Pierce is the brother of former Arsenal star and fellow Irish international
David O'Leary
David Anthony O'Leary (born 2 May 1958) is a football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United, subsequently managing Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai. The majority of his 20-yea ...
.
Playing career
Born in
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 c ...
Johnny Giles
Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as t ...
and made his debut in October and went on to win the FAI Cup in 1978. A week after the Cup Final he signed for
Philadelphia Fury
The Philadelphia Fury was an American soccer team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that last competed in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). The club formerly competed in the American Soccer League and is currently owned by ...
where he spent three months. In 1981, he signed for
Vancouver Whitecaps
Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...
centre-half
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
made his Celtic debut in a 2–1
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Hamilton Accies
Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...
on 30 January 1985. He came on as substitute in the 1985 Scottish Cup Final as Celtic came from behind to defeat
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
2–1. He then made enough appearances to claim a League Championship medal after Celtic pipped Hearts for the title on the final day of the 1985–86 season. He was forced to retire in 1988 due to recurring pelvic trouble.
Pierce's son Ryan O'Leary is also now a professional footballer and played with Kilmarnock.
Post-playing career
Prior to retiring from football in 1988, O'Leary had set up an industrial cleaning business in Glasgow in partnership with
Packie Bonner
Patrick Joseph Bonner (born 24 May 1960) is an Irish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent his entire career at Celtic. He earned a total of 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland national football team after making his debut on h ...
. Bonner's involvement only lasted a few years, but under O'Leary the business secured numerous contracts with offices, shops and hospitals. However, O'Leary went bankrupt in March 2013 and a new business has since been set up with his wife as director.
Scottish League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...