Katie McCabe sealed dream move to Arsenal at age 20, now she’s inspiring the next generation

Katie McCabe played for a packed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium almost a year ago. The first ‘Women’s Football Weekend’ saw Arsenal take on its rivals from North London in front of 38,262 fans – a match the Gunners won 2-0.

While no supporters will be in attendance for today’s showdown with Chelsea, there will be one avid observer in Ireland – McCabe’s ‘soccer-mad’ 12-year-old sister Lauren.

McCabe became the captain of the Republic of Ireland at the age of 21, and her younger sister dreams of following in her footsteps by becoming a professional footballer.

“She sends me an occasional message when she needs a new pair of boots,” McCabe jokes.

‘She loves it, she always asks questions! She can also tell me when I played badly! ‘

She’s definitely more attacking, she’s grabbing all corners and scoring goals for fun. But they are at that age when they have to take turns playing in goal.

“It is fantastic that she can have the dream of becoming a professional footballer, because that was not so visible when I was young.”

Growing up, McCabe’s coverage of women’s football was sparse, but she remembers her father had her watch the Women’s FA Cup final every year – the only women’s game to be aired on TV. The BBC, BT Sport and FA Player app allow fans to watch multiple WSL games every weekend.

“If he hadn’t pasted those games onto the TV, I wouldn’t have been able to see it,” she says.

‘Visibility is so important now, especially in the women’s game. There’s the campaign “If you can’t see it, you can’t be” and I agree 100 percent – young girls need to see top-level professional players to become that too. ‘

McCabe started her career with local team Raheny United and has fond memories of winning league titles and cups. ‘I started training with much older women, people in their thirties. They took me under their wing – a “young brat” they called me! We have another group chat to keep in touch. ‘

With the encouragement of fellow Irish internationals Emma Byrne and Niamh Fahey, both WSL players at the time, McCabe made the move to North London at the age of 20 in 2015.

‘I haven’t thought twice about it. I spoke to Emma and Niamh and Emma was like, “You’re coming!”

‘I used to watch the girls picking up FA Cups so it was kind of surreal even to get the McCabe and No. 15 on the back of the Arsenal shirt – something you dream of.’

With stiff competition for seats under manager Pedro Martinez Losa, McCabe joined Scotland’s Glasgow City for six months – a move she believes was crucial to her development.

‘It was a huge point in my career, I have to get out and get minutes and have that normal week of football week out. Glasgow City was so important to my development – I fell in love with football again, I fell off a little bit before I got on loan. I didn’t enjoy it because you want to play. ‘

While McCabe was on his way to London, Losa had left with current boss Joe Montemurro as his replacement.

The Ireland international has become a staple among the Aussie, who had the foresight to transform her into an attacking fullback. “It took a while to learn and understand the role, but I like new challenges, my goal is to be considered the best left back in the game.”

“I like to play with Joe,” McCabe said. He just instilled that belief in me again. You need that confidence as a player. He has played me everywhere and always, I am now a very versatile player. ‘

Montemurro has built a reputation as one of the league’s most laid-back managers, and his approach has seen the Gunners win double the League and Continental Cup in 2018.

“He’s very relaxed on race day, he’s very calm around the place – it’s his nature,” McCabe says of her manager.

‘He’s not a yeller, he never was. But in the same respect, he is present and demands respect so that the players know their roles. He’s also a great soccer brain and someone I want to keep learning from. ‘

Arsenal are looking to recover from their first defeat of the season when they host London rival Chelsea today.

The Gunners were beaten 1-0 by Manchester United last weekend, with the Red Devils at the top of the table after the result.

McCabe enjoys the chance to correct the mistakes of that game when they take on the side of Emma Hayes, who is unbeaten in the WSL for 26 games.

‘We were really frustrated with the loss to United, I think Casey Stoney set them up well. We played a lot in their hands.

‘With Chelsea there is always this huge rivalry in London – that’s what you want as a footballer. They have brought in a few players and strengthened their team, but so have we.

“ It’s crazy we can’t have fans there, there’s a huge weekend for women’s football coming – we want the fans to take center stage as they usually are. ”

A repeat of the free kick like the one McCabe scored against Tottenham last month would no doubt please her manager. The goal went viral – although McCabe had to clear the charges, it had in fact been a cross rather than a shot.

“It was me and Beth (Mead) about it and I think the conversation was” I’ll cross it “and then Beth was like” no, no shoot! ” so I said “okay, I’ll shoot.”

“I compared it to Granit Xhaka’s free kick against Crystal Palace, it was literally identical.”

In the same match, striker Vivianne Miedema broke the WSL scoring record after scoring her 50th league goal.

“You’ll be in the spotlight for a few seconds, then Viv will take over!” McCabe jokes.

‘I was clearly happy she got the 50 goals, I think I helped her with one or two in that game too – we all wanted her to break that record.

‘She’s crazy, her goal record is a joke. Whatever she can do outside of the ball, she’s so creative and she’s one of the most humble people I’ve ever met, given what she’s accomplished at such a young age. ‘

McCabe and her team-mates will hope the striker will be back on the scoresheet this afternoon at Boreham Wood.