John "Jack" Finlay (1890 – 30 September 1942) was an Irish athlete who played hurling for Laois in the 1910s and in later life was a politician.Finlay was born in Ballycuddy, County Laois in 1890. He had a love of hurling from a young age and soon joined his local club Ballygeehan. In 1913 Finlay won a Laois Junior Hurling Championship with the club. They moved to senior level the following year and proceeded to win five county championships in-a-row with Finlay as captain.