Katie McCabe 'excited' for first Ireland appearance in Cork and Páirc Uí Chaoimh
ON THE BANKS: Katie McCabe during a Republic of Ireland women's training session at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
There aren’t too many milestones left for Katie McCabe to achieve with the Republic of Ireland.
First cap. Check. First goal. Check (both coming a long time ago). Captaining the team. Check. First major tournament. Check. First goal at a major tournament. Check (those last two coming at the World Cup in Australia last summer).
But tonight, there will be another first for the talented 28-year-old.
“I’ve never done it before,” says McCabe on the sideline at Páirc Uí Chaoimh ahead of her first Ireland appearance on home soil but outside of Dublin.
“I’ve never been here (the Páirc) before. I’m really excited. I’ve never played in Cork before at senior level (for Ireland),” she continues.
“I’ve not been to Cork in ages. That’s pretty bad to say, to be honest, but I love the place. I’ve got so many friends from Cork and the people are so friendly around the city, wishing us well.
“I’ve heard good things from the older girls, of course, Denise O’Sullivan in particular. We’re not in Dublin for the first time in quite some time, I think it’s over 10 years maybe, but I’m excited.
“It’s been a nice feel around the town, going in and seeing our Cork fans, and I’m just excited to see… I think it’s 15,000 tickets sold.
“I hope that everyone turns up - and the rain stays away tomorrow night - to cheer us on for our final game, which hopefully will be a good one.”
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You have to go back to McCabe’s playing days at Raheny United (now Shelbourne) for the last time the Dublin native played any fixture of note in the Rebel County. And she’s pretty sure how it went that day.
“Yeah, we won,” she says with a smile.
She will be hoping it’s a good omen as McCabe returns after missing the Girls in Green’s 2-1 loss to England last Friday night through suspension to lead the side out tonight in their final Euro 2025 Group A3 qualifier against a star-studded France team that has already qualified for the finals in Switzerland.
A positive result for Ireland against a French side ranked second in the FIFA Women’s world rankings would boost their chances of securing a seeded spot in the playoffs for next summer’s Euros. Even a narrow loss could be enough, depending on Poland’s result against Iceland.
That, perhaps, leaves little room for sentimentality as the Irish women’s national team prepare for their first fixture on Leeside since 2012 with McCabe set to reclaim the armband from Cork's Denise O'Sullivan, who filled the vacancy against England, for the game at the home of Cork GAA.
“That’s (up to) Eileen. Hopefully I get selected and get back into the team,” McCabe says modestly. But her manager is much more forthright when asked about it moments later.
“Katie is our captain, she's a key player and it's great to have her influence," stated Gleeson before discussing their approach for the game.
“It has to kind of be the starting point, goal difference. We can’t control anything that goes on in the Iceland-Poland game with what we do here, but if we throw caution to the wind and concede five goals, they have a better goal difference, so you have to be realistic.
“It’s international football, we want to have that seeded place and do everything we can do. It’s definitely the starting point in the conversation.”
Another dilemma for the Ireland manager is whether or not she starts Ireland’s goal-scorer against England – their only goal of the campaign so far – in the form of Julie-Ann Russell.
The Galway United star netted on her first appearance for her country since March 2020 when she stepped away from the sport to give birth to her daughter Rosie with Gleeson agreeing that she is an inspiration for all new mothers.
“It’s not that we’re actively telling them all to go and get pregnant now, let me be clear,” she joked.
“But listen it is a female environment. Julie-Ann, like you said, she is a young mother, and we have to be able to facilitate players to stay in the game. That’s what the female environment is.
“You see it across all federations now, all clubs and countries. We’re delighted to have baby Rosie in with us.
“She’s the most welcome member, new addition to squad. It creates a lovely environment and helps Julie-Ann stay in the game.
“I think we all saw, she brought great energy on to the pitch, gave us the runs, she world hard without the ball so she’s definitely in the conversation to start.”
Similar to Russell, youngster Eva Mangan is currently ply her trade in the Women's Premier Division and Gleeson was quick to praise the Cork City captain's potential.
“Eva has done well," admitted Gleeson.
"She’s still building into the intensities and the difference in levels to what she plays at club level. It’s a real step up when she comes into camp so we’re still building her potential through. She’s holding her own.
"She does have high potential I think. She’s very solid on the ball, she’s comfortable but obviously there are differences then in the environment that she comes in to. She’s adapting to those.”
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