IN A WAY it has sunk in.
And yet in a sense it has also truly yet to.
Katie McCabe and her Republic of Ireland women’s team-mates etched their names into history last month by qualifying for next summer’s World Cup.
The dust had hardly settled on the historic play-off win over Scotland at Hampden Park when Vera Pauw’s side were drawn into Group B with Australia, Canada and Nigeria.
Throw in a hectic few weeks with Arsenal, and it’s all been a blur.
“The reality of football is there’s always the next game,” McCabe tells the Irish media from Marbella, where a training camp has kick-started preparations for a friendly against Morocco next Monday.
“It’s very hard to stay on that high, you need to come back down to earth quite quickly, obviously get focused for the next game. Having come in now and met up with the team yesterday, there’s obviously still the excitement, but we know we have to get working now. We need to be ready.”
There have been two real moments where it has hit her, though.
“The draw, seeing our tricolour, being a part of that whole experience,” she smiles, taking her game face off momentarily.
“But we’ve earned the right to be there. We don’t just want to participate and be another team. We’ve worked so hard to get where we are. We want to make sure we’re able to compete now, the hard work starts now. We’ve got a November camp, February, April and then the World Cup, it’s important to stay focused on that.”
✨Privileged to welcome Republic of Ireland captain, Katie McCabe, to TCS today.
— Tallaght Community School (@TCSTallaght) November 7, 2022
Katie is working with The Dove Self Esteem Project. We were so lucky to hear this important message and all of the wonderful football stories told by Katie. ⚽🇮🇪
@Katie_McCabe11 #goygig @Dove pic.twitter.com/AfhORr8N3B
The second moment? Yesterday. McCabe had appearances in Tallaght with the Dove Self Esteem Project, and her first visit home since the Scotland game was a special one.
“I had a meet and greet and the amount of young girls in Ireland kits, in Arsenal kits… just the excitement on their faces, parents congratulating the team for what we have achieved. That was a big moment for me to realise, ‘Wow, this has actually hit a lot of people and brought a lot of joy to a lot of kids.’ It’s giving those kids something to dream about one day.
“From where I came, being the only girl from that area to play in the boys team, to seeing all those girls with Arsenal and Ireland kits on… our Academy structure in Kilnamanagh is booming. It’s incredible and such a nice thing. For us to give those girls something to look up to, potentially taking our places in a few years, is an incredible feeling.”
Rolling back the years to when she started out with the Ireland senior team, and won her first cap in 2015, the 27-year-old “didn’t think it would take as long as it did” to reach a first-ever major tournament.
Everything is on the up — standards, support, interest — and as Ireland prepare to grace the world’s biggest stage, talk is heightening about a big home friendly. That’s an occasion McCabe and co. would certainly relish.
“Our fans have been monumental for us over the course of the campaign. Tallaght Stadium has been rocking every time we’ve played there. We owe it to the fans, and I know the FAI will be working hard to try organise something, to get a home game before we go away.”
What about the draw? Australia, Canada and Nigeria are formidable opposition. The Matildas are co-hosts, ranked 13th in the world. Canada are seventh and Olympic gold medallists, while Nigeria are an extremely strong fourth seed.
“I think, to be honest, we have one of the tougher groups. I don’t think there will be an outright winner as such because I think there are four good quality sides within that will give each other games.
“The big one is that opener against Australia, who we played last September in Tallaght. To be playing the hosts in the opener in Sydney, you couldn’t ask for a better kickstart to our first World Cup.”
She’ll meet Gunners team-mates Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley — “good friends, humble characters and fantastic footballers” — in that opening showdown, with a big Irish contingent expected.
“My brother just moved to Melbourne, literally three weeks ago,” she notes. “I’ve an uncle in New Zealand so he’ll make the journey to Sydney.
“I’ll have to try get [parents] Gary and Sharon over next year. I don’t know how my Mam will handle the flight to Sydney but she’ll have to take one for the team. Lauryn [sister] will make sure to be there as well.
“It’s fantastic to have such Irish support there in Sydney, Melbourne Perth – and we’re in Brisbane too. I’d urge fans to get buy tickets to come support us and I know the FAI is working hard to get that sorted too.”
For now, it’s all about this camp in Marbella and their upcoming fixtures — a behind-closed-door clash against Morocco on Friday, before the full international friendly next week.
Louise Quinn is in line to earn her 100th cap, the defensive stalwart a long-time team-mate of McCabe’s and former clubmate at Arsenal.
“Honestly, Louise has been such a rock for us for as long as I have been in the team and going to Tallaght to see the senior team play, such a massive figure within the team, on and off the field.
“She’s not just a fantastic player but an unbelievable person. We used to kill each other playing for Raheny against Peamount – but at Arsenal I saw another side to Louise, how she’d do anything for you, put her body on the line for whoever she’s representing.
“She’s been phenomenal, for me off the pitch too. When I got the captaincy, at the time I was quite young and I really looked up to Louise to support me in that role, I still do to this day, and I will always be grateful for that.”
McCabe, named Ireland captain at the age of 21, recently skippered the Gunners amidst injury absentees.
“To briefly captain a club like Arsenal is an unbelievable feeling. I’ve been at the club for so long. I’d much rather Kim Little being out there as well and our vice-captain Leah Williamson. But for the brief moment that Jordan [Nobbs] went off it was a massive honour. Arsenal is a massive club and it’s an absolute privilege to wear it for the last 20 minutes of the game.”
Great performance from Sean Baldwin at his first paralympics; fingers crossed he’ll go up a few places tomorrow…