'She's on the verge of burnout': Ireland captain Katie McCabe opts out of USA trip

Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe with Darcy Murphy, age 5, from Ballyphehane in Cork. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Katie McCabe’s decision to skip Ireland’s upcoming double-header friendly against the world’s top nation USA has been welcomed by her Ireland manager who feels she’s on the “verge of burnout”.

The Ireland captain completed a gruelling year by helping the Girls in Green to a 1-0 win over Slovenia on Tuesday, not enough to usurp the Balkan team for top spot in their Uefa Nations League game.

McCabe last Saturday week became a European champion, a vital cog in Arsenal’s feat of landing the first Women’s Champions League since a previous Gunners team, underpinned by an Irish presence, struck gold in 2007.

Uefa afterwards highlighted the wing-back as the player with the most minutes racked up over the entire campaign, illustrating the reliance on her importance to Arsenal.

McCabe confirmed at the pre-match press conference her intention to rest over the coming weeks, avoiding the transatlantic trip for games on Thursday, 26 June in Denver and Cincinnati three days later.

Had she travelled, the second part of that double-header would have marked her 100th cap milestone.

It was during a similar trip to the States in 2023, prior to the World Cup, that McCabe’s long-time teammate from their underage days, Denise O’Sullivan, reached the century of caps.

McCabe won’t be the only absentee for the glamour friendlies, which acts as preparation for the Uefa Nations League playoff in October. Ireland will discover their opponents after Friday’s draw.

"Katie has played an awful lot of minutes for club and country," said Ireland manager Carla Ward, who referenced the decision of England mainstay Millie Bright to absent herself from this window for the benefit of her mental health.

"She's on the verge of burnout, as are some others. There's going to be conversations.

"It won't just be Katie that won't be travelling. There's probably going to be a number. It's something we spoke about in the press conference the other day and It's a difficult one.

“I mean, you've seen with Millie Bright at England coming out, mental and physical fatigue is massive.

"I felt it when I was manager of Villa. It's the reason I needed that break. It's a really tough place to be, and I think there's a lot of players are close to that.

“They've played a lot of minutes, so we have to protect them. We have to protect them as people, and we'll support anybody that needs that break."