Katie McCabe was back to her electric best on Friday night as the Republic of Ireland captain led her team to a 6-0 victory in the first leg in round one playoffs for EURO 2025. The Ireland talisman who nabbed two goals and an assist against Georgia in Tiblisi on Friday spoke with The Halfway Line ahead of the second leg which will kick off at 19:30 GMT tomorrow night in front of a sold out Tallaght Stadium.
McCabe was asked about how the side is preparing to take on Georgia, to which she responded “From our point of view we want to start the game tomorrow how we finished it [on Friday]. Which was with a lot more control and patience. We connected our play a bit better in the second half and had a bit more urgency and were clinical in the second half.”
Katie McCabe praises sold-out Tallaght Stadium
McCabe was quick to speak on news that came out of FAI HQ only a few hours earlier, that Tallaght Stadium was sold out for the play off. The captain spoke passionately, “A sold out crowd as well tomorrow, so lots of atmosphere hopefully from the fans.”
The Ireland captain was quick to play down any suggestion that her side will show any complacency despite heading into the meeting with a six-goal advantage. She noted, “I don’t think anything is easy in these types of games. Georgia, they held their own in the first half, their keeper made some decent saves. For us it’s about concentrating on ourselves and starting the intensity from our play and the fans.
Again it’s a sold out crowd, they are so important to urge us on for that [intense start], our objective it to make sure to put on a good show for them as well.”
‘I’m focussed on Georgia’ affirms McCabe
McCabe was clear that the performance from Friday night was much improved in the second half and that the side wanted to capitalise on that momentum. “I think first and foremost we need to be on the same page about what we want to do and have structure in our play going forward, again going back to the first game we showed that a lot better in the second half.”
The skipper did not want to be drawn by discussing Wales and Slovakia who are waiting on the other side of the playoffs draw, ensuring both eyes are on the task at hand. She emphasised, “I’m not looking at the other two teams, I’m focused on what we are trying to do. I’m focussed on Georgia since the start of this camp, I’ve only been thinking about Georgia.”
‘It has not been a great start to the season’ admits McCabe when asked about Arsenal
McCabe was also asked about the departure of former Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall, noting “Obviously, it has not been a great start to the season from our point of view and the manager obviously leaving as well. We’ve had some fantastic times under Jonas in the past.”
The Halfway Line had the chance to ask McCabe about Ireland’s back up goalkeeper, Grace Moloney, who came in for the suspended Courtney Brosnan on Friday evening.
McCabe spoke with admiration, “I think for me Grace Moloney epitomises what a great team mate should be. It had been 38 games since she’d last put on the shirt and played in between the sticks. She comes into camp with a smile on her face, never taking the call up for granted and always so supportive of whatever starting XI goes out there. You could see how thrilled we were for her to get a competitive game under her belt, clean sheet.”
Looking ahead to the match tomorrow night, McCabe made one final statement, “We’re in a good place as a team, we’re fully focused on tomorrow night and we’ll see what happens then after that.”
Republic of Ireland will host Georgia in Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday October 29, with proceedings set to head underway at 19:30 GMT.
