Katie McCabe wonder goal helps Ireland record impressive win over Hungary

The 4-0 victory makes it two wins from two for the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League, capping off a dream start to the campaign.

Ireland . Written by Alice Linehan.

Ireland captain Katie McCabe celebrating her goal against Hungary. The player is seen on the right hand side of the image, running and holding up her right pointer finger in celebration. Blurred in the background we see one Ireland player holding her two hands up in the sky, and one Hungarian player with their hands on their face.
Image: X: @IrelandFootball

The Republic of Ireland women’s football team took on Hungary last night, September 26, in its second fixture of the UEFA Nations League. Playing in Budapest’s Hidegkuti Nandor Stadium, the travelling side secured an impressive 4-0 victory, with LGBTQ+ athlete Katie McCabe’s wondergoal among the main talking points of the match.

Although the game got off to a somewhat scrappy start, the deadlock was broken in the 17th minute thanks to an excellent diving header from Caitlin Hayes. The defender got on the end of a lovely cross from McCabe to score her first goal for the Republic of Ireland in just her second appearance.

The lead was then doubled in the 41st minute in a pure moment of magic from the Irish captain. Coming out of nothing, McCabe picked up the ball about 30 yards out from the Hungarian goal, and fired it into the top-right corner of the net.

The second half started much as the first had finished, with Ireland in comfortable control. It took the Girls in Green just three minutes to score again after the break, with Kyra Carusa converting with a glancing header on the end of a Heather Payne cross.

The final goal came from Player of the Match Denise O’Sullivan. The Cork-woman made no mistake in finishing off a cutback from Carusa, nestling the ball nicely into the back of the Hungarian net.

The result against Hungary comes on the back of the Republic of Ireland making its historic debut in the Aviva Stadium last Saturday, September 23, where they overcame Northern Ireland by three goals to nil in the first round of the UEFA Nations League. The team now sits comfortably on top of Group B1 in the competition, putting them on course to win promotion to League A and significantly boosting their chances of qualification for Euro 2025.

Reflecting on the two matches, Katie McCabe commented: “At the start of the week, we said we wanted to win some of these games, so to finish here, 4-0, two clean sheets, goals scored, yeah, I’m happy but we want to keep pushing for more and keep developing further.”

 

Interim manager Eileen Gleeson, who has taken the reigns since Vera Pauw’s departure, similarly said she’s “very happy”.

“Three points, that gives us six points out of six, four good goals; probably we could have scored a bit more, but again, still looking to improve and we always think we can be better…I thought overall we did well.”

The squad will now go back to their clubs, before returning to international duty in October for games against Albania.

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