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Blast From The Past: John Cleary

Seán Creedon

Back in the early eighties there were two players named John Cleary playing in the League of Ireland. The John Cleary from Ballyfermot played for the Saints and a few other League of Ireland clubs. The John Cleary from Walkinstown Avenue also played for The Saints, Shelbourne and St James’ Gate and later managed The Gate and Kilkenny City.

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Sadly John Cleary from Walkinstown died two years ago, but the Ballyfermot-born player is thankfully still in good shape. After meeting up at the first League game of the season against Derry City we sat down to chat about the ‘good old days.’

John said: ‘‘I was very sad to hear of my namesake’s death. We played together for Shelbourne and the Saints, but John died in 2021 during Covid.’’

The Saints have strong links with Ballyfermot and John hails from Lally Road where he grew up with his 12 siblings, six boys and six girls.

John said: ‘‘I played schoolboy football for Bromley who were managed by a Postman named Paddy Donnelly. Then I moved to Ranch and later joined Ballyfermot United. While with

Ballyfermot I was spotted by Shelbourne who were then managed by Mick ‘Digger’ Dalton.

‘‘Around that time I also took up Boxing and had a fairly successful Boxing career when I joined the Army for three years. Outside of the Army I boxed at Light Middleweight for CIE, Corinthians and Donore.’’

‘‘I spent two seasons with Shels who were struggling at that stage. Then Charlie Walker brought me to Inchicore where I had the pleasure of playing alongside a promising young lad named Paul McGrath. Yes the stories are true; Paul would often link up with the team on a Sunday morning straight from doing a night shift of security work at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. We would leave space for Paul on the long seat at the back of the team bus so that he could get ‘40 winks’ as we headed down the country for a game,’’ said John.

‘‘Tommy Connolly took me to Dundalk, but then Turlough O’Connor let me go from Oriel Park and I rejoined the Saints where Jimmy Jackson was the manager at that stage. When Jimmy was sacked two of the directors Paddy Becton and

Jimmy Crinnion asked me if I would take over as playermanager with Austin Brady as my assistant.

‘‘We did okay, but I wasn’t really interested in management at that stage and I was surprised when Turlough came in for me again in 1987. I also had a good offer from Shamrock Rovers manager Jim McLaughlin, but Turlie was very honest and admitted that he was wrong to let me go two years earlier.’’

‘‘We won the League-Cup double with Dundalk and I scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in the FAI Cup final against Derry City at Dalymount on May Day 1988.’’

‘‘Then I joined Galway and won a second FAI Cup medal in 1991 when we beat Rovers in the final at Lansdowne Road. When I left Galway I had a season with Crusaders in the Irish League and then I managed Kilkenny City in the first division and finished my League career with Monaghan and Longford Town.’’

‘‘Looking back I suppose one of the funniest incidents was in the Cup Winners’ Cup game against Ajax in Amsterdam back September 1978 where Frank Stapleton was one of their scorers in a 4-0 win.

‘‘Former Dutch international Jan Wouters was running the show in midfield. I was playing in defence, but decided to see what Wouters was really made of. At that time I always wore a gum shield when playing. I waited for my opportunity and clattered Wouters, but I also got the ball and wasn’t booked.’’

‘When he eventually got up Wouters said: ‘‘You are a terrible ugly looking man. I said well you are no Mona Lisa yourself.’’

John made 109 League appearances for the Saints during two spells here at Inchicore and scored 22 goals. In total he made 357 league appearances for the six League of Ireland clubs he played for, scoring 60 goals. The Saints goal he remembers best came in the Leinster Senior Cup final win over Drogheda at Tolka Park in December 1982 when he scored the winner.

John, who is now in his 67th year, later had had a successful career as an Insurance Consultant. He is hoping to get to see more League of Ireland games this season. ‘‘I cannot believe how good the pitches are now compared to my time in the League,’’ he said.

John’s wife Carmel hails from the Liberties and they still live in Lower Ballyfermot, on O’Moore Road. They have three boys, Andrew, John and Anthony. All three played for Ranch and other Dublin junior clubs, while Andrew had a spell with the Saints when Pat Dolan was manager. They have ten grand-children and 18 year-old grandson Scott Cleary is currently doing well with Shamrock Rovers under 19 team.

Looking back who was the best player he played with? ‘‘Definitely no doubt it was Paul McGrath, but Paddy Dillon, who wasn’t the tallest player, was a brilliant striker,’’ said John.

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