Ireland captain Katie McCabe led by example in their defeat to Canada in the group stages of the World Cup.
The 2-1 loss ends Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages, leaving them with nothing more than pride to play for in their final game against Nigeria.
But the team can be proud of this showing against Canada, none-more-so than McCabe, who was phenomenal as Ireland chased an equalising goal in the closing stages.
She lines out at left wing back, but in truth McCabe is something of an all-rounder.
She attacks and defends, striding from box-to-box with snarl, skill and dynamism. McCabe left everything out there, chasing and hassling and harrying in the closing stages, and her efforts were almost rewarded when she skinned the Canadien defence, before her shot was blocked out for a corner.
It would undoubtedly have been one of the goals of the tournament.
Hearts in our mouths, Katie!
What a run 🇮🇪⚽️pic.twitter.com/BgTOf9iBMO— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 26, 2023
As was pointed out to the Dubliner by Tony O’Donoghue afterwards, she could easily have gone down in the box as a Canadien defender dangled a leg in front of her, but McCabe was having none of it.
“Ah I wouldn’t have went down,” responded the 27-year-old.
“I thought the goal would have opened up for me and I think a Canadien defender got in the way.”
McCabe was devastated, but she was proud. At times, the quality of her team-mates’ play didn’t meet the required standard but McCabe never gave out, and constantly encouraged.
“To captain these girls is an absolute honour and a privilege,” reflected McCabe, who scored a first half goal straight from a corner.
“All the girls stepping up, like Larko, that’s the future of this team. I’m so proud of this team, staff included, we’ve done so much to get here. We know the level now and we’re going to be hungry for more.
“It’s bittersweet isn’t it?
“It was nice to score and get us off to a good start but it’s the results that matter in this game. I’m just heartbroken for the girls because I feel that we deserved so much more from the game, just heart-broken.
“I think we took a lot of positives from the second half against Australia, so we backed ourselves going forward, we knew we had the quality and the pace. So we wanted to start with a lot of energy. It’s just about capitalising on those moments.
A heartbroken Katie McCabe felt Ireland 'deserved a lot more from the game' as they ultimately fell to a 2-1 defeat against Canada #FIFAWomensWorldCup2023 #rtsoccer #coygig #faiwomen pic.twitter.com/V6TmnIRHbF
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) July 26, 2023
“Even with the equaliser, it was unfortunate, it was a sucker-punch, but even then, we felt we could push for another goal. Then they scored.
“Against Nigeria, we want to end this on a high, to give the fans something to cheer about, because they were absolutely immense all game.”
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