Declan Ruth

Declan Ruth (born 30 April 1976) is an Irish hurling manager and former player.

He is the current manager of his hometown club Rapparees, having enjoyed a lengthy career with them as a player, while he also lined out with the Wexford senior hurling team.

Ruth usually lined out as a defender.

Ruth First came to prominence at juvenile and underage levels as a dual player with the Shamrocks GAA club, before transferring to the Rapparees GAA club.

He eventually progressed onto the club's top adult teams and won two County Championship titles as a Gaelic footballer.

Ruth First appeared on the inter-county scene as a member of the Wexford minor team before later winning consecutive Leinster Under-21 Championship titles.

He made his first appearance for the Wexford senior hurling team in an Oireachtas Cup game against Clare in November 1995.

Ruth was a non-playing substitute on the Wexford team that beat Limerick in the 1996 All-Ireland final.

He had earlier won a Leinster Championship medal as a non-playing substitute and, after being dropped from the team for a period, returned to win a second provincial title in 2004.

Ruth has been involved in coaching and team management at all levels with the Rapparees club.

In 2021 he managed the club's senior team to a first County Championship title in 43 years.

Ruth was educated at Enniscorthy CBS before later completing a Bachelor's degree in Business Studies and Accountancy at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

He later worked as a sales rep for a number of medical companies and also spent some time as an analyst on RTÉ's the Sunday Game.

In 2009, Ruth married Wexford camogie player Aoife O'Connor.