Helen O’Reilly Q&A: 'One No. 8, who was trying to wind up his opposite number, said ‘Ref, you should be at home doing the dishes!’'

Helen O’Reilly won All-Ireland league medals with her native Ashbourne and St Mary’s before taking up refereeing in 2010. She was one of only two Northern Hemisphere refs at the 2014 Women’s World Cup and is now on the IRFU’s elite panel. In 2016 she was the first women to do touch judge in a PRO12 game, and in 2017 refereed a second tier men’s international.

There are three Irish referees in the 14 officials selected for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup (August 9-26). Joy Neville and Sean Gallagher are amongst the nine referees and Helen O’Reilly is one of five assistant referees. They go into refs’ camp in UCD next Friday and remain there for the tournament.

Q: How did you get into refereeing?