The kid with the cheeky smile who became a leader

Growing up in a city like Dublin can be tough, but it’s a place that allows you to dream big.

From the streets of Tallaght to the Women’s World Cup, McCabe is the girl with a cheeky smile who would go on to make history.

McCabe is the Republic of Ireland’s youngest-ever captain. She has led the team to their first tournament. This is her story.

Growing up just 10 minutes from Tallaght Stadium, where she has so often led the Republic of Ireland out as captain, football was in McCabe’s DNA.

With 10 siblings, she already had her team. Family meant everything, and football was not far behind.

She would follow in the footsteps of her brother Gary, who played in the League of Ireland for Shamrock Rovers and Bray Wanderers.

McCabe started her footballing journey with Kilnamanagh AFC and Crumlin United, but it was at Raheny United that she really started to make her name.

The 16-year-old was already in the Raheny team when Casey McQuillan took over as manager in 2013, and he recalls his first impressions of the teenager.

“There were a number of talented young players who didn’t have a care in the world, such as Katie, Shauna Newman and Claire Shine,” he says.

“Katie is the cheekiest of the lot of them. She has that big smile on her.

“You could see they could play. I wasn’t bothered about age. If they play football and are good enough, it doesn’t matter if they are 33 or 17.”

While McCabe – who has scored 20 goals in 73 Republic caps – showed early promise, she wasn’t the finished article everyone can see today.

She had that individual brilliance, including a stunning 35-yard free-kick in the FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium, and McQuillan says: “You knew there was something in her game.

“She showed all the potential and all the signs when she was with us.

“Katie just used to go and do her own thing. You could never really give out as a manager, except to say: ‘Why did you do that?’

“‘It worked, didn’t it?’ would often be the reply. It did work, so it was grand.

“They were always light-hearted exchanges like that, but at times I used to pull my hair out with her. She would always bring the toe to the line but she would never step over it. That’s what makes her good – she pushes boundaries both in her career and off the pitch.

“She always wanted to know what you expected of her and what she could do better.”

McCabe had to make sacrifices when she was younger. Being a footballer was her dream, but being a kid playing for a team on the other side of a city like Dublin is not an easy ask.

After finishing school, she would sometimes get lifts from team-mates – but she would often have to take public transport to make training and matches.

“She was very professional as a kid,” McQuillan adds.

“When you have training a couple of times a week and a match, your whole week would be taken up by football – and then would you have school on top of that.

“That is a big sacrifice at a young age.

“A kid at that age should be living their life, and she was but just in her own way with football, just not in the stereotypical way of being a teenager.

“She was doing her work and keeping her head down, and that was her in a nutshell. She loved her football and loved her team.”

London calling

Having impressed for Raheny and the Republic age-group teams, it was inevitable a move across the water would follow.

Chelsea, who she supported, made an approach for her in 2015 – but she turned it down in favour of a move to Arsenal, where she would become a club legend.

“Chelsea were looking for her to sign but it wasn’t the right move for her at that time,” says McQuillan.

“Then Arsenal came in and it felt right. It’s a big step for a young kid to go over and she was mature in her decision because she didn’t just jump at Chelsea.

“She waited until something felt right and then she went with that. There was a bit more of an Irish connection at Arsenal at that time.”

Moving to Arsenal was a fantastic opportunity, but she initially struggled for game time and a few niggly injuries held her back.

It was decided a loan move to Glasgow City was the best move to help her development, and it was in Scotland she flourished.

That season helped her lay the foundations for the player she is today.

Being an Arsenal and England legend, Kelly Smith knows a talent when she sees one. That was the case when the young Dubliner landed in north London.

“She was very humble human being and liked by everyone,” says Smith.

“She was a great girl. She was always a team player. She drove standards in training and is now very good with the young players, giving them advice in the sessions.”

McQuillan says McCabe “didn’t have a second to look around” as she moved to England when women’s football was “exploding”.

“She got through it, came out the other end and she is now such a strong player,” he adds.

“Arsenal were good to her but you really have to be a strong kid to go over there and survive. That says volumes about her.

“You have got to look where Katie has come from. Tallaght is a place where you get a tough upbringing.

“She was built in Tallaght, she’ll tell you that. That resilience would help carry her through everything that came her way.”

History-maker

As her club career begin to flourish, McCabe was already a star on the international stage.

When Emma Byrne retired, then manager Colin Bell had numerous options to succeed the legendary goalkeeper as national captain.

He turned to a talented, yet somewhat raw, 21-year-old, making McCabe the youngest captain in the history of the team.

Adding such pressure to any up-and-coming player is a risk, and McCabe admitted she suffered from “imposter syndrome” when she was first handed the armband.

McQuillan says McCabe’s character has helped her make the role her own and helped her take her game to the next level.

“For a young girl she had, and still does, a big presence about her but I didn’t see the qualities she now has coming out as early as they did,” he says.

“For me, there was a risk taken on her with the Ireland captaincy and she has excelled at it. As she has matured, you can see her leadership qualities grow.

“What I saw in her was a desire to win. Despite the cheeky, impish grin, when she got on the pitch she wanted to be the best she could be and she wanted her team to be the best around her.

“There was a big team spirit and playing for the team. She would drag people along with her.

“There was the acknowledgement on her part of the team’s importance in getting her to where she wanted to be.”

‘The transformation was unbelievable’

Republic defender Louise Quinn has witnessed McCabe’s development and says her character has helped to shape the leader she has become.

“She has always been a massive personality,” she says.

“How she has grown and developed, I think the transformation is unbelievable. She was always a quality player but she has turned into this leader who always has the respect of the room.”

Niamh Fahey, Quinn’s defensive partner, says McCabe’s growth since being handed the armband has been “incredible”.

“Katie’s a happy-go-lucky character,” she says. “She is a great captain and a fantastic leader and produces on and off the pitch.

“She takes care of the group. She came into the role really young and she has matured and progressed.

“Off the pitch, she is good craic. She is relaxed and she has that Tallaght big-family mentality.

“She was so young and captain of a senior Irish team and had to grow into that role as well.

“There is a lot of pressure on her but she handles it so well, and to be able to produce on the pitch and take her game to another level, it’s all credit to her. She’s fantastic and is a real leader.”

Smith says it is clear McCabe “absolute hates losing”.

“I love watching her play and her physicality in games,” she says. “She is one player you want on your team because of the feistiness she brings.

“By putting her body on the line, it really sets the standards and the tone within the team.

“She’s always got a smile on her face too. Come rain, wind and sun she always has a T-shirt on. That shows how tough she is and mentally strong she is. She doesn’t even feel the cold!

“She is a fantastic player and I really hope she shows those qualities in her first World Cup.”

From kid with a dream to the World Cup

Now, 21 years on from watching her hero Damien Duff wear the number 11 jersey on football’s biggest stage, the kid from Tallaght will do the same.

With the World Cup approaching, you only have to look in the stands to see McCabe’s impact off the pitch as well as on it.

Countless kids are chasing her autograph or selfie at the end of every game, and she works her way around them with that trademark grin.

She is the face of Irish football. Just like she looked up to those in green when growing up, she is now inspiring the next generation.

With her generational talent, leadership qualities and no-nonsense approach, her legacy for both Arsenal and the Republic already puts her in the pantheon of Irish football greats – with her best potentially yet to come.

“She does it on and off the pitch, as a player and a person and a leader – for us she has everything,” adds Quinn.

“When she leads us out there we are completely and utterly proud of her every time and we’d go into battle with her every day.”

After watching her develop from a youngster to a global superstar, McQuillan admits: “I see the cheeky smile and the Katie McCabe I have always known.

“There has been a couple of times over the past few years where I would have dropped her a text asking if she could do me a favour with the kids and she has jumped at it.

“She knows where she came from and she knows how hard she worked, and she appreciates the time and effort that people put in to come and watch her play or those who helped her get to where she is.

“To me she is still the same person but she has just matured a little bit.

“I think she is phenomenal. Now, she should be hitting her peak, she can have a great three or four years.”