Ryan O'Leary (born 24 August 1987) is a Scottish 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 lea ...

who played as a defender. O'Leary is the son of former

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

international footballer

Pierce O'Leary Pierce O'Leary (born 5 November 1959) is an Irish former professional footballer. Pierce is the brother of former Arsenal star and fellow Irish international David O'Leary. Playing career Born in Dublin, O'Leary signed for Shamrock Rovers in ...

and the nephew of

David O'Leary David Anthony O'Leary (born 2 May 1958) is a football manager and former player. The majority of his 20-year playing career was spent as a central defender at Arsenal, where his tally of 722 appearances stands as a club record. He played 68 time ...

Club career

O'Leary attended

St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow St Aloysius' College is a selective fee-paying, private, Jesuit day school in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1859 by the Jesuits, who previously staffed the college, and named after Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. St Aloysius' College is a co-ed ...

. He started his football career with

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and joined

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

for an undisclosed fee in 2005. After appearing sporadically for Kilmarnock due to injuries,

Gordon Chisholm Gordon William Chisholm (born 8 April 1960 in Glasgow) is a Scottish professional football former player and manager. Chisholm played as a central defender for Sunderland, Hibernian, Dundee and Partick Thistle. After retiring as a player, Chis ...

signed O'Leary for Dundee on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season. O'Leary left Kilmarnock when his contract expired in 2010 taking nine months out of football for personal reasons. However, after failing to win a deal at

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

following a trial, he returned to Kilmarnock and signed a short-term deal in March 2011.

International career

In February 2007 he was named in a Republic of Ireland under-21 squad, but he declined, choosing to represent the country of his birth instead. He subsequently represented Scotland at under–21 level.

Acting career

O'Leary portrays Davey Gunn in

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

's sports drama

21 Thunder ''21 Thunder'' is a Canadian television drama series which follows star players of an under-21 academy for the fictional Montreal Thunder soccer team in Montreal, Quebec. The series was created by Adrian Wills, Riley Adams, and Kenneth Hirsch ...

and is credited as Ryan Pierce. The series premiered in Canada on 31 July 2017.

References

External links

*
Ryan O'Leary profile at Kilmarnockfc.co.uk
* Living people 1987 births Footballers from Glasgow Scottish people of Irish descent Men's association football defenders Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Aberdeen F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Orange County SC players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players USL Championship players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 21st-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-defender-1980s-stub