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Katie McCabe: We're going to the World Cup, book your tickets!

McCabe and O'Sullivan were immense in Glasgow
McCabe and O'Sullivan were immense in Glasgow

'Anyone buying or selling tickets, folks?'

Katie McCabe may not exactly be flogging passes for next year's World Cup - she'll have bigger business to attend to Down Under - but the Irish captain is a sports marketer's dream.

The Tallaght woman, arguably the face of Vera Pauw's World Cup-bound Irish said, was brimming with enthusiasm and devilment minutes after her side had edged Scotland 1-0 at Hampden Park to book their place in Australia and New Zealand.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport following the dramatic win, alongside team-mate and creator-in-chief Denise O'Sullivan, McCabe ordered Ireland fans: "We're going to the World Cup - book your tickets!"

Ireland reached the Promised Land for the first time thanks to Amber Barrett's 70th-minute strike; an excellent penalty save from Courtney Brosnan and a masterclass is defensive rearguard action from the Girls in Green - who, as it happened, wore orange on the night.

"I'm speechless. It doesn't actually feel real to be honest. I'm just so proud of the girls," McCabe said afterwards.


Recap: Scotland 0-1 Republic of Ireland


"We worked our socks off tonight. This one [O'Sullivan] covered every inch of Hampden. Everybody was unbelievable - Courtney with the penalty save, Amber coming on, scoring the goal... we're going to a World Cup!"

Ireland's style under Pauw could be described as 'pragmatic' but the gameplan worked like a dream at the famous Glasgow stadium. Ireland's stubborness and organisation when out of possession married ideally with their pace on the counter-attack to serve up the perfect 1-0 away win.

McCabe, for her part, can't get enough of the hard work required to operate in Pauw's demanding system.

"People might not like our style of play with the defending, but we love it. We love to defend, we're passionate about it, it's our identity," the Arsenal attacker said. "We catch teams out on the counter-attack like we did tonight. That's our strength.

"It gets results, we've been on a great run so far. To come here, a difficult place to come, away from home, we had our travelling fans here. We were up against it tonight, we were the underdogs - but we always are, and we love it! We get results and prove people wrong and we're going to a World Cup now.

"We love [defending]. We're in control. We might not look in control, but we are - we could do it until the cows come home."

O'Sullivan was the provider for Barrett's fantastic strike. Slipping the perfectly weighted ball through for the Donegal woman to race on to before - having taken a dreamy first touch - she prodded the winner into the far corner. A goal for the ages. An Irish goal for history.

"We're proud, we're proud... we spoke about it beforehand, all we needed was one chance and we caught them on the counter," O'Sullivan said.

"I turned and the space was wide open, I played Amber through and it was a great finish. I'm very proud, we've a lot of fans out here tonight and we want to thank them. We're going to a World Cup, it's a dream come true for all of us."

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