McCabe a concern but Pauw focuses on the positives

Republic of Ireland boss Vera Pauw is hopeful Katie McCabe's ankle injury is not serious as the squad prepares to fly out to Australia for a historic first appearance at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Captain McCabe rolled her ankle 15 minutes in to Thursday night's 3-0 defeat to France at Tallaght Stadium.

She soldiered on until the half-hour mark when she was replaced by Izzy Atkinson. Pauw now has her fingers and toes crossed that the Arsenal star will shake it off quickly as the clock ticks down on the huge group opener against Australia on 20 July.

"She rolled over the ankle, stepped on the foot of the opponent," said Pauw.

"We cannot say anything now, we will see how it goes, hopefully not too bad. It definitely changed the game, we were in control. You can't blame Izzy. Katie is extraordinary."

Ireland were comfortably beaten in the end by a very accomplished French outfit but for 45 minutes, the hosts looked rock solid. The concession of two goals in first-half injury-time completely deflated them, though Pauw focused on the positives.

"I'm very proud, we've performed at a very high level for Ireland," she said. "Especially the first half, the way we started, it was phenomenal - the best half that we played against a higher opposition so far. We keep on improving and improving.

"We took the positives, the really good play that we've done and we've sharpened a few things."

"We said at half-time, 'you did phenomenal, it was absolutely fantastic, so don't let those two goals get you down'.

"This is why we play France, a top-five nation. This is why we put this game at this stage now because this will not happen at the World Cup. So we took the positives, the really good play that we've done and we've sharpened a few things."

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