KATIE McCABE let an F-bomb slip out while conceding Ireland severely under-performed in their 4-0 drubbing to Slovenia.
The 94-times capped captain apologised straight away after blurting out the curse word on what was a night where they’ll curse how they played in Koper.
McCabe acknowledged it was a sobering night for the team[/caption]
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Towards the end of her interview with RTE’s Tony O’Donoghue, she admitted: “Yeah of course (it’s going to be difficult to accept).
“Look, we’re at the start of our journey with Carla and the coaching staff coming in.
“With a change of system there’s going to be hiccups like this but it shouldn’t have obviously been that big of a losing margin.
“But we’ll pick ourselves up. We’re a great bunch of players and girls.
“I know the girls f***ing love…sorry, absolutely love playing for their country.
“And we won’t put in a performance like that again.”
It was the Girls in Green’s heaviest competitive defeat since losing 5-0 to Sweden in 2008 with no such mauling in the 78 matches Ireland played in the intervening period.
But while the USA were the best in the world, this was a Slovenia team not among the game’s elite.
While Ireland were at the 2023 World Cup and won every game in the first Nations League B two years ago, Slovenia were getting relegated from League B then.
They returned to ‘B’ level last year by topping their League C group, but were still expected to be routinely beaten by the star-studded Girls in Green.
Instead, new gaffer Carla Ward’s team fell apart.
She inherited a team known for defensively solidity but one that lacked creativity.
But Ireland lost their organisation without adding any flair on Tuesday night.
The loss of Megan Campbell in the warm-up did have some impact, but that defenders like Jessie Stapleton and Caitlin Hayes stayed on the bench raises questions.
But whatever about the teething problems of a new system and players playing out of position, it was basic errors that led to Slovenia’s goals.
Ward said that she was to blame for the result as players adjust to her more attacking system that the more defensive tactics used in the last five years.
Ward said: “It’s on me. You can’t have a half of football like that and expect to win the game.
‘HORRIBLE NIGHT’
“It is a horrible night but it is a huge learning curve at the minute.
“It’s my job and it’s important that I take the pressure away from the players.”
The more defensive tactics under Vera Pauw and then Eileen Gleeson saw Ireland qualify for the World Cup and go close to reaching both Euro 2021 and Euro 2025.
But Ward insisted she will stick to her belief that the team can be more creative, and stick to the tactics she used at Sheffield United, Birmingham City and Aston Villa that got her the job.
She said: “It was not system. Maybe a couple of players in different positions and trying something a little different.
“We aren’t going to rip it up, we have to own it and we have to make sure that half of football never happens again because that is unacceptable.”
