Katie McCabe opens up on journey from Nandos waitress to ...

But before that historic moment, McCabe has penned a piece for The Players Tribune – a website that publishes first-person stories from professional athletes – to share her journey from being a kid with big ambitions, to a Nando’s waitress, to an Arsenal midfielder and now to being the Irish captain inspiring the next generation of female footballers in her beloved Ireland.

“For me, that journey began with something very small … a simple signature” begins McCabe.

“I can still remember going down to Inchicore to watch Ireland play. There must have been around 50 people there in total: Friends and family of the players, and us, a loud crew of 12-year-old girls from Templeogue United. After the game I was standing there with the free ticket I had received, and I was pleading, begging the Ireland players to sign it. I made the biggest Bambi eyes ever!!

“Will you sign it?? Will you sign it?? Hahahaha.

"You know who did? Emma Byrne, the Ireland goalkeeper. I’ll never forget it.

"At the time she probably had no idea what kind of force she had just unleashed. I ran home to my dad going, “EMMA BYRNE SIGNED MY TICKET!!”

“Dad was like, ‘Well, do you know who Emma Byrne plays for?’

I thought that she just played for Ireland, so I was like, ‘No?'

She plays for Arsenal.’

“Two months later Arsenal were playing the women’s FA Cup on TV. I think this was back in 2007. Like everyone else I would watch Match of the Day and Super Sunday, but I could not believe that a women’s game was on the telly.

“Arsenal won — of course — and my new best friend Emma Byrne was lifting the trophy right there in the corner of our dining room. I was staring at the screen thinking, One day, I would love to do that.

“In July 2017, things got even more insane. I was on a trip to Coney Island, Northern Ireland, with Ruesha, my partner at the time, and her family. At some point I checked my phone, and I saw that I had a missed call from Colin Bell, the Ireland coach.

“Before I tell the rest of the story, you have to know how much I love playing for Ireland. How much I like just being in Ireland.

“When I hand over my passport at Dublin Airport, and the officer goes, ‘Have a lovely day,’ in that Irish accent, I’m like, Oh, I’m home. You know what I mean? I think it’s down to the people.

“Everybody in Ireland knows someone’s auntie or cousin. We love to have the craic. We’re a small island that has had to fight for everything. You talk s*** about Ireland? We can’t have that. It’s weird … even if you’re on the other side of the world, if you hear that accent you’re like, I would look after those people, because they’re Irish.

“I loved flying over with Emma to spend 10 days with the girls. You get there, pour a cup of Barry’s Tea and everyone just gets you. But now I was on holiday, we had no camp, and Colin was calling me. So I was worried.

“I used to be quite cheeky, so I was like, What have I done now? I stepped outside the cottage we were staying in and managed to find, like, a tiny bit of reception in this one very specific spot. (Not easy on Coney Island!) “Luckily, I hadn’t done anything wrong this time. Colin told me that Emma, our captain, was stepping away from the team, and now he had a question for me.

“It was weird. I was just a 21-year-old kid. Why was he telling me about Emma?

“I said, ‘Alright, what is it?’

“He said, ‘Would you like to be the next captain of Ireland?’

“I said, ‘Are you messing?’

“Hahahahahaha. ‘Are you joking?’ Me?

“Colin was like, ‘Well, would ya?’

“I was like, ‘But why? How?’

“Colin said, ‘I’ll explain it if you just say yes.’

“Of course I said yes. But I couldn’t believe it. I got off the phone and just went, Did … did that just happen? You know that feeling, right?

“It shocked everybody. We had players in the team with more than 50 caps. Why not them? I had played for every Ireland age group since I was 13, and I had never — never — been captain of any of them. Why now?

“There was another element to my surprise, which is a lot more personal. The truth is, I was low on confidence. I was in a pretty difficult place.

“Here we have to go back in time a bit. Back to the beginning at Arsenal. The first three months were amazing. But when the novelty wore off, I couldn’t handle the transition.

“I was this kid who had left home to play for this giant club that expected to win titles every year. Just one month earlier, I had been living at home with my parents, working five days a week at Nando’s.

“It’s true!! I was dishing up the juiciest Portuguese peri-peri chicken in Tallaght, Dublin. The waitress thing was never my thing.

“Four hours every weekday, I was the Grill Coordinator. When we got the orders in, it was my job to make sure that everything got grilled and sent back out in the right way.

“ONE CHICKEN BUTTERFLY WITH SPICY RICE!” “FOUR BONELESS CHICKEN THIGHS WITH PERI-SALTED CHIPS!”

The Story of an Irish Underdog.@katie_mccabe11 in her own words ☘️https://t.co/1LqAaLhF3A pic.twitter.com/6CQoiTmEfT

Nandos’ loss was Arsenal and Ireland’s gain. McCabe, with the help of her rather large family – she grew with 10 siblings – would overcome her homesickness to become an integral member of the team for both club and country.

But now her focus is on defying the odds yet again when Ireland embark on their historic World Cup campaign.

“We made it. Ireland at the World Cup. It was pure euphoria,” she continued.

“That victory was not just down to the players who were out there. It belonged to everyone who had fought for the national team in the past. Emma Byrne was in the crowd that night, on comms. She never cries, but after that game I think she did.

“Whenever young players come into the team now, and receive pay cheques (!!), we tell them about how their predecessors put their necks on the line for this. Now it’s up to us to continue the journey.

“We want this World Cup to inspire the next generation of Irish girls. We want to give people moments and memories they will never forget.

“People in Ireland always talk about the men’s first World Cup, in Italy in 1990. We want this to be our Italia ’90.

“The Irish girls in Australia and New Zealand 2023. Ahhh, remember that summer?

“That’s what we’re fighting for. That’s what I will be thinking about before the game. Back home in Ireland, I know that lots of little girls will be watching us, just like I was watching Emma Byrne.

“And I’m just hoping, with all my heart, that some of them will be sitting there thinking, One day, I’m going to do that.

“If that happens, we have already won.”