McCabe: Tallaght is our home, we don't need to leave yet

Katie McCabe said women's football must take every opportunity it can to fill major venues as debate swirls around the use of the Manchester City Academy Stadium for the upcoming Euros - but the Republic of Ireland star has no pressing desire to leave "our home" Tallaght Stadium.

Earlier this week Iceland international Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir aired her belief that choosing the 4,700-capacity Academy Stadium for the England-based European Championships - rather than the Etihad Stadium - was "disrespectful" to the women's game.

Manchester City's women's team play their home games at the ground, which is the tournament's smallest venue and will stage three group matches, including Iceland's clashes with Belgium and Italy in July.

Gunnarsdottir said: "It's just embarrassing. If you see Barcelona against Real Madrid, we have 95,000 watching the game. They are not prepared for that, that we will sell more tickets than 4,000. It's disrespectful towards women's football at this stage because it's so much bigger than people think."

"I understand the frustration," reflected McCabe, who was speaking at the launch of Cadbury's campaign to support Irish women's grassroots football.

"It's not as if the Euros are being held in a country where there's limited stadiums. There’s plenty of stadiums around so I can see Gunnarsdottir’s frustration.

"I’d much rather play at the Etihad than the Academy Stadium but if there’s an opportunity where we can - especially in a major tournament - use those bigger stadiums, to get more spectators in watching the games, we should use it."

"It's massive for young girls and boys that look up to us and kind of see us as role models."

McCabe's comments inevitably led to questions around Ireland decamping from