{"id":327613,"date":"2026-03-04T01:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327613\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T01:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:52:10","slug":"katie-mccabe-and-denise-osullivan-in-doubt-for-irelands-clash-against-the-netherlands-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327613\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie McCabe and Denise O\u2019Sullivan in doubt for Ireland\u2019s clash against the Netherlands \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katie McCabe<\/a> and Denise O\u2019Sullivan<\/a> have emerged as injury doubts ahead of the Republic of Ireland\u2019s second World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands in Utrecht on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Ireland<\/a>\u2019s leading players both completed the full 90 minutes in Tallaght Stadium as France secured all three points<\/a> after Manchester United striker Melvine Malard came off the bench to score twice in a 2-1 victory. <\/p>\n

McCabe profited from player of the match Emily Murphy\u2019s assist to score her 32nd international goal in the first-half, while O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s late shot was cleared off the goal line as Carla Ward<\/a>\u2019s side were denied a point. <\/p>\n

\u201cGutted is an understatement,\u201d said Ward after the defeat. \u201cWe knew we would suffer at times without the ball, but we still wanted to play and attack them. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of pride in that performance. We left everything out there. It hurts but we pushed for the goal late on. It really hurts but we were up against one of the best teams in the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to sit behind the ball. We had 11 shots to their seven. If we show that fight and energy we will be just fine. We will get where we want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland player ratings: Emily Murphy and Caitlin Hayes outstanding as Ireland come up just shortOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

McCabe was switched to centre back late on, having picked up an injury, while O\u2019Sullivan has been managing a knee issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cKatie got a knock,\u201d said Ward. \u201cShe slipped into a tackle. That\u2019s why we switched her with Chloe Mustaki. She was at about 70, 80 per cent. <\/p>\n

\u201cDenise has an ongoing niggle that we will assess. She is so important to the country. We will try to get them right for Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Murphy\u2019s outstanding performance, Ward added: \u201cYou can play Emily Murphy anywhere. She has been terrific in an Ireland shirt. They all were terrific tonight. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe message late on was \u2018let\u2019s be a little direct\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

It almost paid off. There is no VAR in the Nations League until the World Cup playoffs in October, so Ireland had to accept three late calls for penalties being dismissed by referee Tess Olofsson. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaven\u2019t seen it back,\u201d said Ward. \u201cFirst hand, you saw me \u2013 I was screaming and shouting. It wasn\u2019t to be. We will take a lot of heart and confidence from that performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe group is wide open. Poland [who drew 2-2 with the Netherlands] are a really good side. But we just showed we are a good team too. I said to them earlier today, nobody is going to give us a chance outside this room.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katie McCabe and Denise O\u2019Sullivan have emerged as injury doubts ahead of the Republic of Ireland\u2019s second World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19001,61,60,19002,59269,43,18998],"class_list":{"0":"post-327613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-denise-o-sullivan","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-katie-mccabe","12":"tag-nations-league","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}