Maeve Óg O'Leary (born 6 March 2000) is an Irish rugby union player. She plays for

Blackrock College Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...

in the women's All-Ireland League,

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in the

IRFU Women's Interprovincial Series The IRFU Women's Interprovincial Series, previously known as the IWRFU Interprovincial Championship, is the top level women's rugby union competition in Ireland. It is organised by the Irish Rugby Football Union. It is the women's equivalent of ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

internationally. O'Leary can play across the back-row.

Early life and education

O'Leary was born in

Ballina, County Tipperary Ballina (historically ''Bellanaha''), from , is a census town that lies on the River Shannon in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is situated on the eastern shore of Lough Derg across from its 'twin-town' of Killaloe on the west bank of the lake. ...

and attended St Anne's Community College, where she was first introduced to

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and, in 2015, helped form the schools first girls rugby team. As well as rugby, O'Leary also played

camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, representing Ireland in the latter at two under-19 world championships and making her senior debut in 2019. O'Leary also played rugby for her home club Ballina-Killaloe RFC after they formed a girls team in 2015 too, playing first as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

, however, when O'Leary left school to attend

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

and began playing college rugby and club rugby with

, she began playing in the back-row. O'Leary studied for a master's degree in public relations and strategic communications whilst at Dublin City University.

Club career

Blackrock College

O'Leary joined

and was part of the team that won the 2022 All-Ireland League Women's Division.

Munster

O'Leary earned representation at Munster under-18 level for both the 7s and 15s teams, playing for the 7s team in 2017 before making the 15s squad for the 2018 U18 Girls Interprovincial Championship. She made her senior Munster debut in 2021 and was part of the team that won the Interprovincial Championship in 2022 and retained the championship in 2023.

International career

O'Leary made her senior

debut in 2021, featuring as a replacement for then-captain Ciara Griffin in their 20–10 win against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. During the

2022 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2022 Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the TikTok Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 21st series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition contested by England women's natio ...

, O'Leary was the '24th player' for the opening three rounds providing injury cover, but made her tournament debut in the fourth round against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

References

External links

Munster ProfileIreland Profile
2000 births Living people Alumni of Dublin City University Rugby union players from County Tipperary Irish female rugby union players Softball players Blackrock College RFC players Munster Rugby women's players Ireland women's international rugby union players Rugby union flankers 21st-century Irish sportswomen {{ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub