| Ruth O'Reilly | |
| Birth Date: | 12 August 1981 |
| Birth Place: | Tralee, Republic of Ireland |
| Occupation: | Marketing manager |
| Ru Position: | Prop |
| Youthyears1: | |
| Years1: | 2002–2017 |
| Clubs1: | Galwegians |
| Superyears1: | |
| Repyears1: | 2012–17 |
| Repcaps1: | 16 |
| Ru Sevensnationalyears1: | |
Ruth O'Reilly (born 12 August 1981) is a retired women's rugby union player from Tralee, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland. She played as a prop for Galwegians RFC, Connacht Rugby and the Ireland women's national rugby union team.[1]
O'Reilly started playing rugby in 2002.[2] 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.
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 to Pau for a Women's Six Nations Championship match against the France women's national rugby union team, arriving only shortly before the match.[3] In 2017, she was selected as part of Ireland's team for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup 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.[4] Before Ireland's seventh place playoff, she wrote an article published in The Irish Times 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, Northern Ireland; fellow player Lindsay Peat defended O'Reilly for writing the article after criticism that it was O'Reilly's article that caused Ireland's loss.[5] O'Reilly retired from rugby afterwards.[6]
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, County Galway.[7]