'Large group' of Irish players Lisbon-bound to back Katie McCabe's Champions League dream

RTÉ News​

20-05-2025

"A large group" of Republic of Ireland players will make a pit stop in Lisbon on Saturday to support Katie McCabe in the Champions League final, before flying out to Istanbul to prepare for a crunch international double-header.
Ireland face Turkey on Friday week and then welcome Slovenia to Páirc Uí Chaoimh four days later - two key games as they look to keep alive their Nations League promotion hopes.
Arsenal star McCabe will be allowed to link up a little later than everyone else due to her involvement in the European showpiece against Barcelona at Estádio José Alvalade, and she'll have the support of several Ireland teammates in the stands.
"I don't know the exact number but there's players going to support her," said Ireland boss Carla Ward.
"There's a flight out of Lisbon to Turkey, they'll arrive at the same time as everybody else does on Sunday. There's a large group of players going to watch
"I think Katie will be returning maybe two or three days late. Let's hope that they do the job and she comes in with a nice medal which will hopefully put her in a good position to then help us with these two games. We wish her well, we wish the whole squad well.
"We know that she's coming late, win, lose or draw, because Arsenal have some things prepared for them. No matter what, it's an unbelievable achievement to get to where they've got to."
The Girls in Green need six points from the last two games of their campaign to have any hope of gaining automatic promotion from League B.
Ward has drafted San Diego-born, Australia-based attacker Erin Healy into the squad for the first time, while Louise Quinn is included despite announcing her retirement earlier this month.
"I told (Healy) this morning," Ward said. "She wasn't expecting it. A nice surprise, I think. She's pacey, she can play off both sides, she can play down the middle. I think she is a natural replacement for Leanne (Kiernan, out with a quad injury).
"We actually looked at her for the last camp and it probably wasn't the right time. But given the situation with Leanne, we thought she was a natural replacement.
"She has attracted a number of WSL clubs and will hopefully end up there this summer. We've been watching her quite a lot, she is an exciting young player."
Quinn hasn't played for her country since the 3-1 defeat of France in Cork last July. A hip injury ruled her out of the Euro 2025 play-offs against Georgia and Wales, but Ward insists the centre-half is ready to go if called upon.
"She's made it very, very clear that she's fit, she's firing. I've had her Birmingham manager on to me telling me the same thing. She'll turn up, she'll train, there's competition for everybody.
"I think if you saw her Instagram post after the last Blues game, she made it clear it was her last game in a blue shirt. She's desperate to represent her country one more time. I can't tell her, I've been honest. It's not necessarily nailed on. She's got to earn the right to be selected for these games, but she's in with a chance, like everybody else."
Ward espouses the importance of leadership in the dressing-room, coaxing some of the younger players out of their shell to fill a void left by a cluster of recent retirements.
There's a leadership void within the FAI too: Hannah Dingley is leaving her role as the head of women's and girls' football to become the girls' head of academy with Manchester City; the news comes on the heels of Marc Canham's decision to step away as the association's chief football officer in June. Shane Robinson has been appointed interim technical director, while the search for Canham's successor continues.
"It's disappointing for me," Ward added of Dingley's departure. "I've known Hannah a long time. I was Hannah's captain many years ago.
"She's somebody that I've known a very long time, a very, very, very good person. She sits opposite me in the FAI so I usually get her around the tactics board, I'll miss that of course. She's got a wonderful opportunity at Manchester City and I wish her all. For me, it's a big loss personally. I wish her well.
"(Canham) recruited me. I'm on the phone to him every day trying to knock down doors. I always want more, Marc's helped me with that. I think it's going to be important, like I said, the person who comes in has to be a football person. I've been honest about that, it's got to be somebody who's also going to be as supportive of the women as Marc has been."