IT’S A CABE NEW WORLD
Katie vows Ireland can finally land play-off place
By Daire Walsh
DESPITE facing into one of their biggest tests, Katie McCabe insists there is a relaxed mood in the Republic of Ireland camp ahead of tonight’s crucial World Cup qualifier.
Should they come away with all three points, the girls in green will book a play-off place with a game to spare – the first time that has happened in 14 years.
From the current squad, Aine O’Gorman and Niamh Fahey – who misses out tonight with injury – are the only survivors from the team that suffered a 4-1 aggregate defeat to Finland and consequently missed out on a spot at Euro 2009.
Skipper McCabe said: “We’re relaxed, we know what’s at stake. For us, each game has been just as important as the next. We need three points in order to get a play-off position.
“Since we’ve come in we’re still enjoying each other’s company. We have our catch-ups. We have our coffees in the morning. We’re very relaxed but we also know the pressure that is on this game. We’ll be fully focused, doing our preparation and then obviously push for Slovakia on Tuesday.”
While McCabe and her colleagues are looking upon the encounter in Tallaght as akin to a cup final, the same is true of their opponents.
A win would see Finland leapfrogging Ireland into runners-up spot heading into the final round of games.
And this isn’t unfamiliar territory for the Finns, who recently featured at the European Championships in England. McCabe added:
“Obviously it’s always important to remain compact, especially against these types of teams.
“Finland have shown their qualities in previous games. Certainly against the likes of Slovakia and Sweden as well, they’ve had a lot of time to together over the course of the Euros too.
“We know they’ll be well used to each other but we’ve got that togetherness in abundance as well and we’ll be looking to use that.”
Ireland came close to reaching the play-offs for those delayed Euros in England, having gone into their final two games of the qualification phase against Ukraine and Germany needing just a single point to secure a second place finish.
That clash with Ukraine in Kyiv in October 2020 was viewed as the one that got away – they had the lion’s share of possession and chances but an O’Gorman own goal and a missed McCabe damned them to a 1-0 defeat.
McCabe said: “We’ve learnt a lot from that game. You look at that game in Ukraine and as a team, as a group, we’ve never been in that position before. We’ve never had what was on the line that day. Compare that to now, we’ve grown so much as a team. We’ve obviously dissected what happened in Ukraine, how we can improve on that. I think it has really put us in a good head space to prepare as best we can for this game.”
Manager Vera Pauw agreed that improvements have been made since that reversal to Ukraine.
She said: “They became, in every sense, full professionals with a lot of experience in their clubs and in their leagues. With the games that we’ve played since then, we’ve experienced so much pressure that this team is incomparable with two years ago”.
In regards to tonight’s affair, Pauw acknowledged the biggest challenge facing her side is the relative lack of game time that her players have under their belts – which is in stark contrast to their Finnish counterparts who are in the midst of a hectic domestic campaign.
But she added: “That is why we’ve approached it as a final. No excuse can be made because you can’t play it again. We’ll be ready with a team that knows their tasks but especially knows also what we’re going to face.”