Katie McCabe: I never get sick of seeing a sold-out stadium that was built for men’s football

Katie McCabe talks to Cliona Foley about the pressure — and joy — of captaining Ireland and the work still to be done to level the playing field for female athletes

Katie McCabe, who thanks to her performances for Ireland and Arsenal, is now one of the most recognised football players in the global game.

Katie McCabe retains a stark memory from her days in primary school in Tallaght.

“Our boys’ school and girls’ school, the yards face each other and there’s a patch of grass in between them. At yard time we would go out and the lads would be playing football, and we would be stood looking at them.

“I wasn’t allowed to play it at all, which is incredible because I go up to my primary school now, my nieces go to it and they’re playing football.”

That 26,572 young girls played in the FAI’s Primary Schools 5s in 2024, and almost 120,000 fans attended the Irish senior women’s six homes game in the past year, is a huge source of wonder and pride to her.

“Honestly it feels like night and day,” says the 29-year-old who, thanks to her performances for Ireland and Arsenal, is now one of the most recognised players in the global game.

When she signed for Arsenal from Shelbourne 10 years ago, still in her teens, the new-look English Women’s Super League (WSL) was in its infancy. Now it is fully professional, includes a second tier (the Championship) and is run by the clubs themselves after they recently broke away from the FA to form their own company.

Barclays bank sponsors the WSL for about £15m a year and its latest five-year TV deal with Sky and the BBC was a whopping £65m.

That’s why it now attracts most of the world’s best players. McCabe’s Arsenal teammates hail from 11 countries. There are Lionesses from England’s European champions and World Cup runners-up, but also superstars from Spain, USA, Australia, and Sweden.

Yet she remains one of their marquee players, a defender famous for her weapon of a left foot that scores absolute bangers.

Katie McCabe during a Republic of Ireland women training session at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Arsenal reportedly rejected a €250,000 bid for her from current WSL champions Chelsea two years ago and she re-signed for the Gunners in late 2023.

The huge mural of her on a wall opposite Tallaght Stadium underlines her hero status.

She led the Girls in Green to their historic first World Cup in 2023 where her ‘Olympico’ goal, a curled corner-kick, was as iconic as any that Ray Houghton ever scored for Ireland.

Yet the rewards, profile, and adoration come with a price. When you elevate a nation’s standard, you’re expected to always replicate it. The Irish captain’s form is forensically scrutinised every time she plays and, if she slightly underperforms, brickbats inevitably follow.

How does she cope?

“Like anything, it (success) comes with positives and negatives. The negatives for me are the disappointing results or bad experiences you endure as a team. I always look inwards to see if there’s anything more I could have done in certain situations.

“But being Irish captain and playing for Arsenal, playing in high pressure games all the time, I always see it as a privilege.

“It’s something I enjoy and it’s not going to last forever. One day I’ll have to retire, so it’s just about enjoying every moment and being at the highest possible point of my career as long as I can.”

The Gunners are still vying for Superleague honours this season and have reached the Champions League quarter-finals, playing Real Madrid on March 18 and 26.

On the international stage, McCabe and Ireland have had to dust themselves off and regroup after failing to qualify for this year’s European Championships; their hopes ended by an ignominious 2-1 loss to Wales in Dublin before Christmas.

Denise O’Sullivan, left, and Katie McCabe of Republic of Ireland after defeat in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 play-off.

They recently returned to action in the Nations League with a new manager, Carla Ward, but have lost stalwarts like Niamh Fahy, Diane Caldwell, and Julie-Ann Russell to retirement so the leadership of world-class McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan remains vital.

Her combative style makes her susceptible to what sports psychologists call the ‘passion paradox’, where athletes often try so hard that they get themselves in hot water.

Someone created a joke account on X called ‘Did Katie McCabe get a yellow card today?’ and she picked up a two-game ban this season after getting sent off against Chelsea.

Do managers not lecture her to just cool the jets sometimes?

“No!” she insists. “I want to win and that’s what makes me the player I am today and why I’ve played at such a high level for so long. Managers wouldn’t want to take that edge away from me.

“It’s just kind of a zone you go into. When you step over the white line and you’re warming up and getting ready for the kick-off, it’s a different mentality you go into. It’s hard to just kind of snap out of it. I’ve always been a player that trains how I play. I apply myself in training like that every time I’m there, so that I’m ready to perform every weekend.”

That obsessiveness and warrior spirit undoubtedly helped when McCabe first went to England because it was far from plain sailing.

Katie McCabe during a Republic of Ireland women’s training session at Bonifika Stadium in Koper, Slovenia. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

From a tightly-knit family of 10 siblings in Kilnamanagh, it was a huge adjustment for a 19-year-old and she still misses home.

She struggled physically too with the initial step-up and, after a year of injuries and warming benches, accepted a six-month loan to Glasgow City. The first-team football she got there, plus the arrival of Joe Montemurro as the new Arsenal manager, saw her finally break into their starters and blossom.

So what is her advice now to young Irish girls who dream of being the next Katie McCabe but face even stiffer competition to break through in England’s star-studded Superleague?

“For us coming out from Ireland, you have to work that bit harder. Put in those extra sessions, on the pitch and by yourself, and have commitment like no other. You need to have that consistent work ethic. It’s the consistency — day by day, week by week — that helps you separate yourself from the rest.

“I never get sick of it, especially walking out at the Emirates (Stadium, capacity 60,000+) and seeing a sold-out stadium that was built for men’s football.

“There’s a lot of people behind the scenes, in the Arsenal marketing and commercial departments, who play an incredible part in that too.

“From an Irish point of view, I still think there’s work to be done. It’s got better but I’d love for us to be able to play all our games at the Aviva. Who’s to say that won’t be the case in a couple more years with the drive and commitment from the FAI? We’re definitely on the way.

“I remember that first time playing at the Aviva (a challenge match versus Northern Ireland in September 2023). It was incredible because I used to go to Lansdowne Road as a kid to watch the men play. For us to be there and walking out in front of a record crowd (35,994) was pretty surreal.

We want young Irish girls to be able to dream to be like us one day.

“Yeah, there was disappointment after the Wales game but we just want to keep pushing on,” she adds.

Katie McCabe: We want young Irish girls to be able to dream to be like us one day.

Might that possibly include more games outside Dublin, considering that historic Euro ’25 qualifier victory over France in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in front of almost 19,000 fans?

“I don’t know, but we spoke about it as a team afterwards, how much we enjoyed being down in Cork, the whole environment around the town and the atmosphere at the game as well.

“We had an incredible result as well so maybe that’s our lucky spot,” she laughs.

“So many young girls in their teenage years drop out of sport. We’re still seeing that problem in this day and age but football, whether you’re really talented or not, brings you so much.

“The people you meet through it, they’re some of my best friends for life. Then there’s the places it can bring you, whether around Dublin or Ireland or abroad.

“The things you can experience through sport are incredible and I think we need to make sure to encourage our girls and young women to keep playing and keep being part of something so brilliant.”

• Katie McCabe is an ambassador for the Cadbury Become A Supporter & A Half campaign. For your chance to win cash prizes, VIP match day experiences, Cadbury hampers and more, see becomeasupporter.cadbury.ie.