Katie McCabe named Sportswoman of the Month for May

The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman Award for May: Katie McCabe (Soccer)

It’s a whole seven and half years since Katie McCabe won her first Irish Times/Sport Ireland monthly award, which came at the end of an eventful year on and off the pitch for both her and her Republic of Ireland team-mates.

In April 2017, there was the very public stance the players took against the FAI, McCabe among those who turned up at Liberty Hall to air their grievances. In August, she was named the youngest ever captain of the national team, with Colin Bell choosing the then 21-year-old to succeed the retired Emma Byrne.

Between September and November of that year, she captained the side to an impressive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, with wins away to Northern Ireland and Slovakia followed by a scoreless draw away to then reigning European champions the Netherlands.

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But perhaps the most significant happening for McCabe in 2017 was her six month loan spell at Glasgow City, her playing opportunities since joining Arsenal two years before having been severely limited. While in Scotland, she helped City win their 11th successive league title and then returned to Arsenal with just a fortnight left on her contract with the London club.

By then, Joe Montemurro, who was appointed head coach of the Australian women’s side last week, had taken over as Arsenal manager. He liked what he saw from the young Dubliner in training, extended her contract and, well, the rest is one heck of a story.

When she headed to Lisbon last month with Arsenal to take on Barcelona, a Champions League medal was just about the only honour missing from McCabe’s club collection.

Only three other Irish women – Emma Byrne, Ciara Grant and Yvonne Tracy – had won Europe’s premier club competition, but that was a whole 18 years before when they were part of Arsenal’s quadruple-winning side. No English club had won it before or since, and coming up against one of the finest teams in the history of the women’s game, the odds weren’t exactly on Arsenal’s side.

Katie McCabe winning the ball from Barcelona's Caroline Graham Hansen in last month's Champions League final. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

Barcelona had scored 26 goals in their six group games – 10 against Wolfsburg over two legs in the quarter-finals – and beat Chelsea, the six-in-a-row WSL winners, 8-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

And, somehow, Arsenal managed to keep them scoreless in Lisbon – McCabe giving their brilliant winger Caroline Graham Hansen no room to breathe, her marking job playing a sizeable part in that clean sheet.

Add in a 74th minute goal from Stina Blackstenius and Arsenal were, once again, European champions. And McCabe had added her name to that Irish roll of honour, having also shone against Bayern Munich and Lyons in the quarter and semi-finals.

Little wonder that Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward has excused her captain from the trip to the United States later this month for the friendlies in Denver and Cincinnati, having suggested that she is “on the verge of burnout”.

As Uefa’s stattos revealed, McCabe started all 15 of Arsenal’s Champions League games, including in the qualifying phase, meaning she played more minutes – 1,296 to be exact – than any player in the history of the competition.

Add in her appearing in all but two of Arsenal’s WSL games, suspension ruling her out of both, as well as four cup games. Good and all as her engine is, it was time for a break. Form-wise, she hasn’t had her best year for Ireland, so Ward needs the only Irish woman to ever be nominated for the Ballon d’Or, and our 2023 sportswoman of the year, to be in prime condition for October’s Nations League play-off against Belgium.

[ Aoife Wafer named Sportswoman of the Month for AprilOpens in new window ]

Back in 2017, McCabe followed Katie Taylor on our monthly roll of honour. It says something of her career achievements since then that she might well have drawn level since on the name recognition front.

Previous monthly winners – December: Ellen Walshe (swimming); January: Hazel Finn (basketball); February: Lara Gillespie (cycling); March: Kate O’Connor and Sarah Healy (athletics); April: Aoife Wafer (rugby)