IT'S ALL A VERA BIG DISTRACTION

Frustration clear to see as Pauw and skipper McCabe forced to talk about the past & not World Cup future

- MARK MCCARDEN

AS Katie McCabe rose from her seat, she bent down towards the microphone.

"It's been a pleasure talking about the World Cup, guys. Really appreciate it," she remarked, with lashings of sarcasm.

You could cut it with a knife - 27 minutes, 37 questions and just five of them addressing tonight's game against France.

McCabe, sitting next to manager Vera Pauw yesterday afternoon in Tallaght Stadium, clasped her hands and stroked her chin at various points (below) as she listened to her boss speak about an article published on Monday.

It featured seven unnamed former Houston Dash players and staff members.

Under the condition of anonymity, they made claims that Pauw engaged in controlling behaviour and fired off comments about players' size, weight and what they were eating.

There was little in it that didn't feature in December's National Women's Soccer League report into alleged misconduct.

But the timing just days before Ireland's farewell friendly against France and flight to Australia - as well as the content - didn't sit well with those at the top table. Pauw described the allegations as "a lie," while McCabe called it "a real negative distraction".

The Arsenal star continued: "For us, we're solely focusing on what we have going forward, a game against one of the top five teams in the world in France.