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

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

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

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 ...

. She played as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen 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, distinct ...

for

Galwegians RFC Galwegians Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Galway, Ireland. Galwegians field over 16 teams including Men's and Women's Senior (Firsts), Junior (Seconds) and Men's Thirds as well as underage sides at all levels from U20 to U7. The ...

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial men's rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht B ...

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 ...

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, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to Pau for a

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

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 the first-ever women's rugby union test match against the Netherlands on 13 June 1982. They compete annually in the Women's Six ...

, 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 Du ...

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 was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' criticising the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...

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 ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

; fellow player

Lindsay Peat Lindsay Peat is an Ireland women's national rugby union team, Ireland women's rugby union international. Peat represented Ireland at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup squads, 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. Peat is an all-round sportswoman. In addi ...

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 ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

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 21st-century Irish sportswomen