Ruth O'Reilly (born 12 August 1981) is a retired women's rugby union player from

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

, County Kerry,

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. She played as a

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

for

Galwegians RFC Galwegians Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Galway, Ireland. The Galwegians senior side plays in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League, the Irish domestic club competition. Galwegians field over 16 teams including Senior, Junior (S ...

, Connacht Rugby and the

Ireland women's national rugby union team The Ireland women's national rugby union team represents Ireland in international women's rugby union competitions such as the Women's Six Nations Championship and the Women's Rugby World Cup. They have also represented Ireland in the FIRA Wo ...

Career

O'Reilly started playing rugby in 2002. In 2014, she captained Galwegians to victory in the Women's All Ireland League. She also became an assistant coach for Connacht Ladies and the manager of the Ireland women's Under-17 rugby sevens team.

International career

O'Reilly made her debut for Ireland in 2012. During this same year, she was part of the Ireland women's team that missed a connection and spent 17 hours on an overnight train travelling from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to Pau for a

Women's Six Nations Championship The Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the TikTok Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes, is an international rugby union competition contested between six European women's national teams. It started in the 1995–96 season as the ...

match against the

France women's national rugby union team The France women's national rugby union team represents France in women's international rugby union. They played their first international in 1982 against the Netherlands. History ''Source: "Des Filles en Ovalie", Éditions Atlantica (2005), W ...

, arriving only shortly before the match. In 2017, she was selected as part of Ireland's team for the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dub ...

hosted in Ireland. During the tournament, Ireland failed to reach the semi-finals and O'Reilly was forced to leave the team due to injury. Before Ireland's seventh place playoff, she wrote an article published in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' criticising the Irish Rugby Football Union for a lack of support of women's rugby and the Ireland manager Tom Tierney for having "lost the dressing room". Following Ireland's loss in the playoff in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

; fellow player

Lindsay Peat Lindsay Peat is an Ireland women's rugby union international. Peat represented Ireland at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. Peat is an all-round sportswoman. In addition to representing Ireland at women's rugby union, she has also played for th ...

defended O'Reilly for writing the article after criticism that it was O'Reilly's article that caused Ireland's loss. O'Reilly retired from rugby afterwards.

Personal life

O'Reilly originally worked as a marketing manager at a hotel before moving in 2010 to become a marketing and event manager for a medical company in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

, County Galway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OReilly, Ruth Living people 1981 births Irish female rugby union players Rugby union props Rugby union players from County Kerry Ireland women's international rugby union players Galwegians RFC players Connacht Rugby women's players