Repeatedly targeted by filthy Slovak blades, Katie McCabe’s reaction was supreme.
How are the legs, ankles, hips?
“F**king kicked up and down the pitch, I’m great,” began the Ireland captain after securing a seeded place in Friday’s World Cup playoff draw. “They obviously did their due diligence on us pre-game and look to maybe try to keep myself and Denise [O’Sullivan] quiet.
“They kicked me, tried to get in my head. I rise to that, I enjoy getting kicked around the pitch, it brings me up a level. We got the win so that’s the most important for me.”
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What is also important is the final standings in Group A as Ireland rounded out eight matches in 12 months with a 1-0 win in Slovakia, four clean sheets and conceding just four goals while scoring 26, 13 of which were shared by McCabe and O’Sullivan.
The hacking is a compliment McCabe accepts through gritted teeth but it could have left her stranded in a Bratislava hospital as the FAI chartered jet returns to Dublin.
“Absolutely,” the Arsenal winger replied before changing the narrative. “We got quality in this team, you can see that. I don’t think I was even involved for the goal. The play between Heather [Payne], Jess Ziu and Denise … Like, Jess Ziu has been phenomenal these last two games. She has really stepped up another level since going to West Ham and playing regularly and competing professionally every day with great players.
“It is not just me you have to worry about per se. It is the lot of us; Megan Campbell’s long throw, Denise on the edge of the box, the Louise [Quinn] header. We got it, but we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground. We know we got a big game to go in the second round of the playoffs. I am just so proud of the team, that we kept a clean sheet again.”
Friday’s draw to reach next summer’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand drops Ireland into a one-off contest. The result of that match, and depending on the European country Ireland potentially overcomes, could push them into third seed, which would force them to win once more in February against significantly lower ranked opposition at an intercontinental tournament in New Zealand.
“Whoever comes out, that’s the luck of the draw isn’t it?” McCabe shrugged. “It’s a cup final at the end of the day. Obviously we’ve done ourselves a bit of justice and got that bonus of missing the first round of the playoffs which was our target tonight. We’ll see.”
McCabe is standing on the pitch in Senec, soaking up the celebrations before a quick turnaround to ready her body for the Super League opener against Manchester City on Sunday, but the spokeswoman for a generation of Irish footballers understands the magnitude of what is unfolding.
“You see what the Lionesses have done in the Euros over the summer, putting the WSL on the map. We want to put the Republic of Ireland on the map. We want to be competing against the best teams in Europe and the best teams in the world. We want to give people tough games, we’re not going to make it easy for people to beat us.”
That’s all any supporter has ever asked of the Ireland player but there is so much more to come.
“They are allowed to party,” said Vera Pauw. “I will go to bed and leave them.”
