Katie McCabe and Ireland look to end World Cup journey on a high

With the end near, and Ireland set to face the final curtain against Nigeria, Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe admitted to regrets in how their Women's World Cup journey has panned out.

However, the Arsenal star views the experience as hugely positive overall, with 'experience' the operative word as the national side plot future forays into the finals stages of major international competitions.

After suffering losses to co-hosts Australia and then Canada by the narrowest of margins, Vera Pauw’s charges conclude their historic campaign with a clash against Nigeria in Brisbane on Monday.

McCabe was in a reflective mood when she spoke to RTÉ Sport on Saturday, saying: "You don’t want the journey to end. That was the heartbreak against Canada because you knew it was all over and we’d be going home after the Nigeria game.

"We wanted to get out of that group stage, we really felt that we could achieve that.

"To be so close, in terms of going 1-0 up (against Canada) and thinking you can get something from the game, but those big nations have experience and know what it's like to go behind and fight their way back.

"All we can do is learn from these experiences.

"We’ve been on this journey – together with Vera and her staff – for these last three or four years, but as captain I feel like there is so much more growth we can have within this team.

"It feels like we’re only getting started, in a way.

"We’ve got a taste for it now. A first major tournament and we want to make sure that’s going to be a regular thing going forward. Euros would be incredible.

"But Nigeria are up first to make sure we end the tournament as well as possible."

The aggressive, attacking approach adopted against the Canucks was in stark contrast to the