Niall McCabe (born 6 October 1990) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Louisville City FC Louisville City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the USL Championship, known through the 2018 season as the United Soccer League (USL), which is currently the second tier of th ...

Early life

Personal

McCabe was born in

Ringsend Ringsend () is a Southside (Dublin), southside inner suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the sou ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. He grew up playing with his local side Cambridge Boys and Ashbourne United in Meath among others, before deciding to travel to the United States to pursue a scholarship offer and a chance to earn a degree at

Young Harris College Young Harris College is a private Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college in Young Harris, Georgia, United States. History Origins The school was founded in 1886 by Artemas Lester, a circuit-riding Methodist minister who wanted to ...

College and youth

McCabe played four years of

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and Philippines, the Philippines. Th ...

at the NCAA Division II

between 2010 and 2014, after playing soccer in his high school years with Colaiste Ide in his hometown of

, Ireland. In 2012, McCabe led the Peach Belt Conference in goals and was second in assists; winning the conference's Golden Ball and being named to the All-Conference 1st team. In 2013 he was named to the All-Conference 2nd team. McCabe totaled 32 goals and 31 assists in 62 games at

Young Harris Young Loftin Gerdine Harris (1812 – April 28, 1894) was an American lawyer, businessman, politician, judge, and philanthropist. He is best known as the early benefactor of Young Harris College in the U.S. state of Georgia, after whom the schoo ...

to place second all time in goals and first all time in assists at the school. While at Young Harris, McCabe played in 2012 and 2013 for

Knoxville Force Emerald Force Soccer Club, formerly known and nicknamed as the Knoxville Force, was an American soccer club based in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 2010, the senior team was part of the Southeast Conference within the South Regi ...

of the NPSL, but in 2014 moved to

Chattanooga FC Chattanooga Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 2009, the team began play in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) in Spring 2020. Prior to joining the NISA ...

in the same conference. For Chattanooga, McCabe totaled 5 goals in the 2014 NPSL season, which took Chattanooga FC to the NPSL finals.

Club career

Louisville City FC

2015 season

McCabe joined

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

club

on 12 February 2015 and made his debut in Louisville City FC's first game. He appeared in 27 of the club's 28 regular season matches; starting 17. He scored four goals on 16 shots on goal.

2016 season

McCabe scored two goals and registered four assists while appearing in only 21 matches. He had season ending surgery to repair a hip labral tear on his left side which his originally injured during the 2015 season. His last game was on 10 August against the

Harrisburg City Islanders Penn FC (formerly the Harrisburg City Islanders) was an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the United States soc ...

; missing all of the USL Cup Playoffs.

2017 season

After staying in Louisville to rehab over the winter McCabe was able to train with the team during the preseason and appear in the team's opening match (a scoreless draw against rival

Saint Louis FC Saint Louis FC was an American professional soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded in May 2014, and competed in the USL Championship. The team played their matches at West Community Stadium, a venue inside the World Wi ...

). He would go appear to appear in 23 matches and score three goals with four assists in league play. On 22 April McCabe was bitten by

Djiby Fall Baye Djiby Fall (born 20 April 1985), often referred to simply as Djiby, is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward. Fall last played for Hobro IK in the 2018–19 Danish Superliga. Fall has previously played professional ...

while playing rival

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

. Fall would be sent off and suspended for six games while McCabe received a tetanus shot. Louisville City would go on to win the USL's Eastern Conference and the

USL Cup The USL Championship Final is the post-season championship match of the USL Championship, the second tier of professional men's soccer in the United States. The winner is crowned champion in the same manner as in other North American sports lea ...

. McCabe would be named to the match squad for all four playoff matches but would only appear in the Conference semifinal against

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

2018 season

McCabe had his contract renewed with Louisville and he made his season debut on 17 March against USL expansion side

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

where earned both a goal and an

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: * Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a b ...

. He went on to appear in 22 of Louisville's 34 matches while scoring four goals with four assists. He also appeared in two of Louisville's five

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

matches as Louisville reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time in its history. This included a 3–2 victory over the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

; Louisville's first victory over an MLS side. McCabe also appeared in all four of Louisville's

matches and scored two goals in Louisville's first round match against the

Indy Eleven Indy Eleven is an American professional soccer team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2013, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2014, before moving to the United Soccer League in 2018. The franchise plays ...

; his first brace as a professional. He and Louisville went on to win the USL Cup Final against

Phoenix Rising Phoenix rising originally describes the heraldic position of the image of a phoenix: its head upturned (to its right) with wings raised for flight. The term can also refer to: Film and television * ''Phoenix Rising'' (Hong Kong TV series), a 2 ...

. On 9 October McCabe became the first Louisville player to reach 100 combined appearances in both the USL and USL Cup playoffs. He finished the year with 111 appearances across all competitions.

2019 season

McCabe resigned with Louisville for the 2019 season as the final player from the original roster to remain with the club.

Honours

Club

(2):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

* *
Niall McCabe
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Niall 1990 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Louisville City FC players National Premier Soccer League players USL Championship players Men's association football midfielders Chattanooga FC players Association footballers from Dublin (city)