Aug 22nd on His Knee Injury...
"It isn't great, I am gutted. I had a scan on Sunday and I knew what was coming but when you actually hear it, it is a real blow.  It happened at a corner. There was a tangle of legs, then my knee went the wrong way and I felt it jar.  I have jarred my knee before but you get on with it and ice it later. I hobbled off but I was determined to get back on because of my injury record. Alex asked how it felt. It felt sore but I wanted to keep playing. He wanted to take me off but I convinced him to let me stay on. I felt okay running around.  I got to a ball down the line ahead of Andy Driver, who nudged me, transferring me onto my bad knee.  It felt unstable and then I heard a crunch. I knew something was wrong. The feeling was weird. There was initial pain but I had more of a fright than anything but there was no way I could get up and walk off. I needed a stretcher and then went straight to hospital after the game.  It's a complete snap, I've seen the images. There is other ligament damage but it's minor. Alex thinks the damage was done in the box but I think he is annoyed I persuaded him to let me play on.  He knows how I felt about my previous injuries but obviously my knee was already unstable after the first challenge.  You hear how an injury like that is a player's worst nightmare but you never think it will happen to you.  Unfortunately I have had a bad spell and it has happened again.  I've had two operations on my left shoulder. The last was a few years ago on the first day of the season. (Pictured left caused by Colin Nish of Hibs).  August doesn't seem to be a kind month for me. It is down to bad luck. The operation is at the end of September. When you're told you'll be out six or seven months you wonder when you will get back playing. I'm at the bottom of the ladder again and will have to go through the rehab again. It is not great.  It is going to be a long six or seven months but there is no point in moping about. James Dayton had it last season and was back training in five months. You wouldn't think he had the injury the way he moves about. That gives me confidence to come back."

Aug 21st Kenny Shiels on O'Leary's Injury During the Hearts Match... "I fear that Ryan (O'Leary) may have a cruciate - I really feel for the boy, and the big challenge for him now, if it is a cruciate, is that we have to see how strong he is and what his coping strategy is going to be for the rehabilitation period. It's a long fight to get back, but it's happened to [team-mate] James Dayton and it's happened to quite a few professional footballers, and he will get strength from people like James and our physiotherapist."
 

Aug 13th..."I want to nail this rumour I'm not fit. I have had a long injury record, there's nothing I can do about that.  I think my body has recovered pretty well and I'm doing things now I maybe didn't do before. Usually I'm in the gym before everyone else. That normally combats any injury. Only you know how your body feels. I'm the only person who can say if there's something wrong. I'm not going to risk hurting myself for the long term just to prove a point. I don't want to be injured. It makes me wonder why I stepped away from football in the first place. I had my reasons at the time and it was good for me. Now I'm 100 per cent raring to go.  I'm confident I can stay injury-free and do well. All I'm aiming for is to come in every day and keep the gaffer thinking about me. I signed the new deal just before the holidays. It was great to get things sorted really early. My contract finished on May 15 and when that happens you're sort of sitting about wondering what would happen. I knew the gaffer liked me but was unsure what was happening with his own situation."

June 19th...  O'Leary, 23, turned his back on the pro game for seven months last year and admitted time dragged while he worked for the cleaning company owned by his dad, Pierce. The canny former Celtic defender refused to give his boy a cushy office job and put him to work on the shop floor at the Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

His reverse psychology worked - Ryan was reminded how much he actually loved the game and has just signed a new two-year deal with Kilmarnock after initially being invited back on a short-term contract towards the end of last season.

O'Leary said: "I had personal reasons for leaving the game when I did and had lost happiness with football. When I first quit I never really thought about coming back into it at all.

"However, the time away was really great because it made me re-evaluate myself and my future.

"I was working for my father's cleaning company for seven months - probably the longest seven months of my life to be honest, up at half five in the morning and getting back in at 3pm. It was just horrible.

"I wasn't sitting in the office. I was hands-on at the hospital in Larbert, scrubbing windows, toilets, cleaning floors, sinks. I was a sweeper in both senses.

"It was just a long, tedious job but I proved I can cut it in the real world, I was a good cleaner. It made me appreciate how lucky we are as professional footballers.

"I'd also seen how well my mates such as Craig Bryson were doing and it made me want to get back in and have another taste of it.

"I've now realised football is the life for me. My first game back for Killie was against Inverness and after 10 or 15 minutes I grew more and more confident.

"I felt more at home and only a few days later I was playing against Celtic at home. I thought, 'I don't know why I left this.'"