LAST UPDATE | 4 Apr 2022
THESE ARE THE times Katie McCabe lives for.
What she has worked for.
Pressure to deliver, and succeed, for club and country.
The Republic of Ireland captain was in a taxi yesterday evening on her way to the airport as Chelsea romped to a 5-0 win to reclaim top spot in the Women’s Super League.
Arsenal had hammered Leicester City by the same scoreline earlier in the day to briefly look down on the rest.
Chelsea, McCabe’s childhood club, now control matters with a one-point lead and her admission about supporting the Blues is not something she is trying to airbrush.
“I owned it. I’m not keeping it a secret. It’s out there now. I’ve come to my senses,” she laughed.
This is a title race that looks set to go down to the wire, with the sides also meeting in the semi-final of the FA Cup on Sunday week.
Sandwiched in between will be Ireland’s vital World Cup qualifier away to Sweden on 11 April, in which McCabe will lead her team-mates out as skipper.
It is a world of responsibility, and pressure, away from a meeting she had with former men’s captain Robbie Keane a month before leaving for London as a 20-year-old.
Yesterday’s win over Leicester was her 150th appearance for Arsenal, a milestone she is proud to have reached given the struggle of those early years in England.
It was a really, really good conversation with him,” McCabe recalled. “He said it was going to be tough. It’s not easy, being from Tallaght as well you’re used to that home feeling. He was dead right.
“It was tough at the start but once you get through that first year, year and a half, you kick on. It was great just to speak to such a legend, someone I would have looked up to growing up and who I watched at Lansdowne Road playing for his country, and to give you that advice.
“To this day, I still talk to him and speak to him if I ever need anything or a different opinion on anything. It’s great to have allies like that and he takes a big interest in what myself and the girls are doing.”
Even with the upcoming challenges occupying McCabe’s thoughts, as well as the disappointment of Arsenal’s Champions League exit, the historic nature of the El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid is not something that should be ignored.
A record 91,553 people were in the Nou Camp for one of the competition’s other quarter finals, and the possibility of filling Aviva Stadium for a women’s international, and outgrowing current base Tallaght Stadium, is on her mind.
“For me, I’d love to play at a packed out Aviva. I’ve had experience there before with Raheny in cup finals. It wasn’t packed out but we did fill a stand. You can hear the crowd and it was special for us. It meant a lot.
“Like, it’s your national stadium. I do love playing in Tallaght, don’t get me wrong, but to pack out a stadium where you used to go and watch the men’s team play when you were growing up, it would be something spectacular.
It goes to show, 91, 000 [were there], give women’s football the right platform it can grow and excel, so hopefully we see the trajectory like that in the next few years in Ireland.”
McCabe’s Ireland team-mate Louise Quinn recently joked about how she has developed from “a cheeky little shit” as a 16-year-old at Raheny into someone who is “switched on when it’s time to get to business.”
McCabe laughs at the description. “That’s my character. I like Louise’s choice of words, to be honest. I’ve always been that aggressive player on the pitch. I hate to lose, love to win.
“Before I got the [Ireland] captaincy I always prided myself on knowing my team-mates, and knowing what they needed from me. You can demand different things from different people in different ways. Some need the arm around the shoulder, and some need the rocket up the arse.
“It’s something within the Ireland set-up that I think we have. We’d run into brick walls for each other. Look, it’s a high-pressure environment,” she continued.
“The stakes are high. Everyone is there to win, especially at Arsenal. They are world class players and are used to being under pressure. Everything has to be perfect.
Being in that environment day in day out, I try to bring that across when I’m in with Ireland to really show the girls who don’t play professionally week in week out what that standard is, and we don’t let the standard slip in training or in games.
“For me, you either sink or swim. We showed in the Pinatar Cup, the likes of Abbie Larkin, even Chloe Mustaki getting her first cap after such a successful underage career, that we have those players within the league who are more than capable of that.
“It’s fundamental for players to go and play in professional environments day in day out so they are used to the pressure and that will only benefit the national team even further.”
McCabe has started wearing the armband for her country at a time when the demands and expectations at club level are far greater. It was the kind of dynamic – and mentality – shift that frustrated former men’s skipper Roy Keane, but McCabe is adamant taking on responsibility from Emma Byrne has not been a burden.
“When I got the armband there were big boots to fill but it was about concentrating on myself and what do I need to be for everybody? It’s not about mirroring what Emma does, what Roy Keane does, Robbie Keane does, or anything like that. It’s about figuring out how I can continue to do on the pitch and be the best I can off the pitch for my teammates.
“The last few years, being surrounded by elite players that have won World Cups, Euros, Olympics, I still absorb and listen to them. I speak and ask questions, I want to learn and try bring that experience I have into the national team.”
This is another week when it will be crucial.
Katie McCabe and sister Lauryn have partnered with Dove to celebrate the return of the Dove Self-Esteem Project in Ireland which aims to arm the next generation with the tools they need to grow up enjoying a positive relationship with the way they look. Resources are available for teachers, parents, mentors, and youth leaders across Ireland. To download the tools, visit www.dove.com/uk/dove-self-esteem-project.html
