‘I grew up watching Robbie Keane scoring hat-tricks’ – Katie McCabe’s Lansdowne joy as Ireland look ahead to second leg

Ireland captain wary of Belgian fightback as boss Carla Ward anticipated that first-leg salvo was a performance in the making

Katie McCabe had a potential Aviva hat-trick correctly chalked off by the fourth official but despite her brace, she was more concerned by the two goals that Belgium scored which keep their Nations League promotion/relegation play-off tantalisingly poised.

Ireland were leading 4-1 after 66 minutes and threatening an improbable fifth against a side ranked seven places above them in the world rankings in a remarkable performance that manager Carla Ward would subsequently claimed she had anticipated.

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