Peter O'Reilly (cricketer)

Peter Mark O'Reilly (born 23 July 1964) is a former Irish sports journalist for The Sunday Times, and a former first-class cricketer.

Born at Dublin, O'Reilly was educated in the city at Belvedere College.[1] Aged 18, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Ireland against Scotland at Edinburgh in 1982.[2] He spent 1983 and 1984 in England playing for Warwickshire Second XI, but was unable to force his way into the first eleven.[1] He made a second first-class appearance for Ireland in 1984 against Scotland at Glasgow.[2] A fast bowler, O'Reilly took 5 wickets across his two first-class matches, at an average of 16.20, with best figures of 3/43.[3]

After two seasons in England, O'Reilly returned to Ireland to study art and history at University College Dublin.[1] After graduating, he taught history at St. Andrew's College, Dublin.[1] He briefly returned to the Irish side in 1990, playing minor matches against the touring New Zealanders, as well as touring Zimbabwe.[1][4] Following the death of The Irish Times cricket correspondent Sean Pender, O'Reilly left his teaching job to fill the vacant cricket correspondent job at the newspaper.[1] He became their rugby correspondent in 1995, a position he also held at various times with the Sunday Tribune and the Irish Independent.[1] He is the current Irish rugby correspondent for The Sunday Times.[1] O'Reilly has written books on Irish rugby, including the acclaimed Ireland and the Triple Crown, The Full Bag of Chips, released in 2004.[1] His daughter, Lucy O'Reilly, plays for the Irish women's cricket team.