Comfortable, but hardly flawless, the Republic of Ireland took another stride towards winning their UEFA Nations League group with a 5-1 defeat of Albania at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.
Those who had to endure the rain and the M50 traffic to make a 5:45pm kick-off may have been questioning whether it was worth it as they shuffled into the ground long after the action had started.
But a tour de force performance from Katie McCabe vindicated their dedication.
She is a generational talent who is currently operating at the peak of her powers.
McCabe won’t make Monday’s Ballon D’Or awards in Paris; she’ll be in Albania preparing for the return fixture between these two countries. But her name is on the shortlist, and tonight showed why.
The phenomenal Tallaght woman took this game by the scruff of the neck and sculpted it in her own image with a display of tenacity, class and power. Three goals and two assists - for in-form attacker Kyra Carusa - settled it after Albania had the audacity to nab an equaliser early on.
Hungary’s win over Northern Ireland in Budapest means another victory for the Girls in Green on Tuesday night could see Ireland win their group with two games to spare.
With McCabe in this kind of form, it looks a formality.
Interim boss Eileen Gleeson made three changes to the team that started last month's 4-0 win in Hungary. Heather Payne and Lucy Quinn were both forced out with niggles, opening the door for Abbie Larkin and Izzy Atkinson, while Megan Connolly replaced Lily Agg in the middle of the park.
McCabe passed the armband on to Diane Caldwell on the occasion of the defender’s 100th cap and then stationed herself in a more offensive position, playing off striker Carusa.
It took the Arsenal star a little more than three minutes to pierce the Albanian resistance. McCabe took the sting out of a low Larkin cross with her instep before prodding a neat finish past goalkeeper Viona Rexhepi. Deadlock broken. And most inside the ground expected the goals to flow.
However Albania had enough about them to throw a spanner in the works. On seven minutes Arbenita Curraj’s lofted cross from the left caught Ireland cold and skipper Megi Doci stole in to slam home a good finish.
Ireland seemed startled. Their early fluidity evaporated as passes became hurried and off-key, the Albanians feeding off the anxiety. Twin playmakers Doci and Qendresa Krasniqi laced a hardworking unit with silk and it briefly felt like this one would sink into a see-saw war of attrition.
Caldwell almost capped her landmark evening with a dipping 25-yarder that Rexhepi tipped onto the crossbar, with Carusa scuffing the rebound straight at the stopper from three yards out. She was, mercifully, spared by the offside flag.
Ireland 2-1 Albania: Who else but Katie McCabe? The Irish skipper shows great strength and then finds the finish to put Ireland back in front at Tallaght Stadium. #IRLALB
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 27, 2023
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Frustration was just beginning to creep in approaching the half-hour mark when McCabe embalmed the contest with her quality again. This time she outmuscled Doci outside the box and thumped in a 25-yarder that took a heavy deflection off Alma Hila and whizzed into the net.
McCabe’s intervention did not fully liberate her team however, as a combination of Albanian stoutness and general sloppiness from Ireland made things scrappy.
McCabe tested Rexhepi with another ambitious piledriver right before the break that kicked off the turf and bounced into the goalkeeper’s midriff. And that was that for the half; 2-1 to Ireland after an underwhelming first 45.
McCabe did her best to jolt the Girls in Green into life on the turnaround with a snappy 49th-minute effort that flew over the bar. Rexhepi showed good reflexes soon after to paw away a wicked McCabe in-swinging corner and then save Louise Quinn’s stooping header.
Albania were starting to creak. McCabe was banging the door off its hinges.
In the 57th minute she lit up Tallaght with a magnificent run from deep, feeding Carusa who glided forward to clip home a fantastic finish.
Two minutes later the pair combined again for Ireland’s fourth. This time McCabe dug out a superb cross that the San Diego Waves attacker powerfully headed to the net.
Game over.
McCabe probably should have had a hat-trick when she sliced an angled effort wide from 15-yards out. Then the 28-year-old corkscrewed a dipping drive that Rexhepi gathered well.
Ireland 5-1 Albania: Katie McCabe completes her hat-trick with a wonderfully struck free-kick. Three goals, two assists, just another day at the office for the Ireland captain. #IRLALB
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 27, 2023
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But inevitably it came. A gorgeous free-kick nine minutes from time drifted into the top corner with effortless precision; indeed she almost got a fourth when a nonchalant effort kissed the top of the bar.
McCabe is the first Irish footballer to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or since Roy Keane in 2000. Her influence on this Ireland outfit is every bit as strong as the man who once ran an all-conquering Manchester United dressing-room.
Whoever comes in to replace Vera Pauw on a permanent basis will be building everything around her.
Republic of Ireland: Courtney Brosnan; Abbie Larkin (Jamie Finn 71), Caitlin Hayes, Diane Caldwell (capt, Chloe Mustaki 82), Louise Quinn,Izzy Atkinson; Denise O’Sullivan, Megan Connolly (Sinead Farrelly 58), Tyler Toland; Katie McCabe (Erin McLaughlin), Kyra Carusa (Emily Whelan 82)
Albania: Viona Rexhepi; Mikaela Metalla (Mimoza Hamidi 55), Sara Maliqi, Arbenita Curraj (Armela Tukaj 89), Lucie Gjini; Gresa Berisha, Qendresa Krasniqi (Matilda Gjerji 89), Ezmiralda Franja; Megi Doci (capt), Kristina Maksuti (Valenita Troka 84), Alma Hila
Referee: Lizzy van der Helm (Ned)
Attendance: 5,752
