“My foot has been in ice for the last four days trying to get the swelling down. It’s well padded up, but it still works.”
So said Katie McCabe in a chat with – excuse us – the Arseblog after her player-of-the-match performance against Manchester City on Sunday, during which she scored a zinger of a winner with the left foot that was iced up since Wednesday’s Champions League win over Bayern Munich.
“It was more than a whack,” she said. “The foot wasn’t in a good way on Wednesday, it was absolutely rattled, but our medical team have done an unbelievable job on the quick turn-around.”
[ Katie McCabe stunner earns Arsenal WSL win over Man CityOpens in new window ]
Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall did the unthinkable for a spell earlier this season: he dropped McCabe. Safe to say, after her performance on Sunday, it might be a while before he leaves her on the bench again.
“On Wednesday she was in the boot and she told me straight away, ‘I am playing on Sunday’. Of course you don’t believe that. Then she went for a scan and it looked better than we thought. Me and her spoke a bit and she said ‘I’m here’.”
“We didn’t even have her out kicking long balls [on Saturday] just to save her foot. Then she manages to play 80 minutes after that yellow card, which was extremely harsh, and then she tops it off with that goal. This period is the best we’ve seen Katie McCabe since I’ve been a coach here. She has been a tremendous player during these months.”
So, her left foot still works, no matter the rattling it endured.
McCabe was, undoubtedly, the story of the “Irish Abroad” weekend, Courtney Brosnan the only other Republic of Ireland player featuring in an English Super League victory, her Everton side beating Spurs 2-1 to stay sixth in the table.
No joy for the rest of the Irish WSL representatives, though, Aoife Mannion an unused sub in Manchester United’s 4-0 thumping of Brighton, for whom Megan Connolly played the full 90 minutes, with goalkeeper Megan Walsh left on the bench.
Brighton are now in serious danger of relegation after dropping to bottom of the WSL table, Leicester going above them after beating a Reading side that featured Grace Moloney in goal – Diane Caldwell was, once again, left on the bench. Reading are just two points clear of Brighton, so it’ll be a nervy end to the campaign.
In the English Championship, London City Lionesses moved to within three points of leaders Bristol City in the promotion battle, Hayley Nolan and Kyra Carusa playing their part in a 1-0 win over Charlton.
And in Scotland, Emily Whelan, a recent omission from the Irish squad, maintained her fine form for Glasgow City by scoring in their win over Partick Thistle which kept them eight points clear of Celtic at the top of the Premier League table.
Further afield, Denise O’Sullivan’s North Carolina Courage lost 3-1 to San Diego Wave in the second game of the United States’ league season, while Marissa Sheva came on as a sub for Washington Spirit in their 2-2 draw away to Racing Louisville.
Back in Europe, Roma McLaughlin, who was brought back in to the latest Irish squad last week, played the last 25 minutes of Fortuna Hjorring’s 1-0 win over Thisted in the opening game of the Danish league campaign, while Amber Barrett also came off the bench for Potsdam in just their second win of the Bundesliga season, a 1-0 win over Freiburg.
