By the half hour mark at Meadow Park, a hardcore attendance of 3,686 people who braved the weather were into a fourth rendition of their Katie McCabe ditty. It was 3-0 to Arsenal and a younger, less accomplished West Ham United were struggling to avoid further punishment in this Women’s Super League tie.
With club captain Kim Little benched, McCabe wore the armband and started at right-back in a call viewed as Arsenal coach Jonas Eidevall wanting the Ireland skipper on the pitch, regardless of her position.
Eidevall stuck with an all-Australian left side of Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney Cross and Caitlin Foord. And anyway, McCabe’s football brain saw her pop-up at centre-forward and in the middle of the pitch when space needed filling.
The London derby, actually played in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, exposed the enormous gulf in quality between star-studded Gunners and the Hammers, who launched Irish pair Izzy Atkinson and Jess Ziu from under velvet blankets in the dugout just as McCabe’s afternoon was ending.
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Both looked lively, with Ziu shaking off a knock as the 21-year-old strives to return to the Ireland squad in 2024. Atkinson and McCabe landed into Dublin after the game on Sunday night ahead of the Nations League ties against Hungary and Northern Ireland.
Atkinson blazed a shot over the bar near the finish but Arsenal were in autopilot, proving why 15 points separate the teams in the WSL table after eight games. Megan Walsh had a tough afternoon in the West Ham goal. Getting a rare start for the injured Matildas ‘keeper MacKenzie Arnold, Walsh was beaten early by Norway’s Frida Maanum before a brace from English striker Beth Mead wrapped up all three points without any fuss.
Arsenal come storming out of the international break, aiming to break their own record attendance of 54,115 at the Emirates for the clash with league leaders Chelsea on December 10th before a third successive London derby against Tottenham Hotspur at their 62,000 seater stadium on December 16th.
“We are constantly trying to break down barriers here in the women’s game,” McCabe told The Irish Times. “I got to this point, you could say, because I am reaping the rewards of Emma Byrne’s generation.
“That’s what you have to do in the women’s game. How we inherit it, we need to make it better when we leave so I am delighted the likes of Jess, Izzy and little Jessie [Stapleton] as well are able to represent clubs like West Ham and play at the highest level in England because not only will it push themselves and make them better, it makes our national team better back home.”
Stapleton was an unused substitute but the former Shelbourne defender also joins the Ireland squad selected by interim Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson, which is notable for its absentees.
Peamount United’s Freya Healy replaces the injured Emily Whelan despite established strikers Amber Barrett, who started in Standard Liege’s 1-0 win over Genk on Saturday, and Leanne Kiernan, who came off the bench for Liverpool in a 3-0 win against Brighton, clocking vital minutes.
[ Karen Duggan: Katie McCabe is one of a kind, a special playerOpens in new window ]
Healy joins her club mate Ellen Dolan as the only League of Ireland players called up in what is conceivably recognition for their excellent domestic campaign.
Several veteran internationals do not make the cut. Claire O’Riordan scored the only goal for Standard but, like fit-again Liverpool captain Niamh Fahey who also played on Sunday, Gleeson has gone another way, previously citing “football reasons” for excluding Barrett and O’Riordan.
Courtney Brosnan and Heather Payne started for Everton at Villa Park before they also went into national camp.
