Copyright irishmirror
Katie McCabe 's father has revealed that the Irish captain's footballing journey very nearly ended when she was just 19-years-old. McCabe joined the Gunners back in 2015 and today, a decade later, she is one of the star's of the team and played a key role as the Gunners won the Champions League last season in dramatic fashion. This week, the left-back won her 100th cap for Ireland as the Girls in Green edged past Belgium over two-legs to book their place back in League A of the Nations League thanks to Abbie Larkin's late winner . All this may not have been possible for McCabe had her father not intervened just weeks after she joined Arsenal. The youngster was homesick at the time and if it wasn't for her father and the kind actions of her hero Emma Byrne, McCabe may well have packed it in. “It was something I always seen was going to happen. She was going to go abroad to play," Gary McCabe told The Sun this week. “She was offered a scholarship to America when she was 16 but she didn’t take it because, coming from a big family, she was close to her sisters. “America’s a good distance away, whereas England is only an hour on the plane. “When she went away that first year, she was sort of homesick. Emma Byrne was over there at the time, so she was able to take her under her wing. “I think she was only about six or seven months over there and she was wanting to come back home. “She was offered a deal here with some chap that was involved with Shelbourne. He said he’d pay her €1,000 a week if she came back and played with Shelbourne. “I said, ‘no, okay, that’s a wrong move if you do that. That’s not going to last.’ She decided to just stick it out and got over it and went to Glasgow on a loan. Back down to Arsenal then and been successful ever since. “It’s been an amazing 10 years there. To be at a club for such a long time, it goes to show you the faith that they put into her as well. "It’s nothing that I didn’t foresee because I knew she had the talent. She had a few offers from other clubs as well but she stuck it out with Arsenal.” A true sliding-doors moment, because if McCabe had have returned to Ireland months after joining Arsenal, who knows where her career would have gone. Instead, McCabe hung tough, battled through the rough patches and today stands as the jewel of Irish women's football and is by far the most successful Irish footballer of any gender in recent years. Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond
