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Kate Farrell McCabe: Trusting the Next Step

It takes us a while to catch up with Kate Farrell McCabe, but that’s no bad thing. It’s merely a reflection of where she finds herself these days. Sometimes players coming off contract can find they have more time than they know what to do with.

Not Farrell McCabe.

Within weeks of learning her IRFU contract would not be renewed, she was settling into her new role as Site Manager at Fad Saoil’s Rathmines sauna.

For someone who spent seven years immersed in high performance sport with the Irish Women’s Sevens, the rhythm of life has changed dramatically. But it hasn’t slowed.

“When I first found out my contract was gone, a bit of panic definitely set in,” she admits. “Rugby was my everything for so long. I wouldn’t call it a trap, but it was all I really knew and suddenly I was left thinking, ‘right… what do I do now?'”

Like many professional athletes, her sport became much more than a job. It dictated her routines, shaped her friendships and quietly became part of how she saw herself. There was little reason to look beyond the life she had wanted since she was a teenager.

While classmates talked past papers, points and college courses, the Wexford woman was already setting her sights on a different path.

“When I was offered the chance to play rugby full-time, there was no decision to be made to be honest,” she says. “I knew it wasn’t a conventional path but the thoughts of it allowed me to dream big and step out of the world I’d always known.”

Ever competitive, she put her head down for the Leaving Cert even though the prospect of university life never really held much appeal. To this day she believes rugby provided her with an education no lecture theatre could match.

Indeed, the SVNS global circuit became its own kind of classroom. Every trip brought new cultures, perspectives and ways of thinking. Life back home also offered lessons of a different kind as she trained alongside some of the world’s best athletes at the HPC.

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Travis Prior

“I was so young I didn’t really stop to think about what I was getting myself into,” she concedes. “Looking back, I’m grateful for that bit of innocence because I had to work really, really hard to stay in there. If I’d known what lay ahead, I mightn’t have made the jump.

“It was very tough but I learned to keep my head above water by constantly adapting and finding ways to improve. In that sense I think rugby taught me far more than I would have learned if I’d taken a more traditional route after school.

“Even now, I’m confident I’d make exactly the same decision. I like to think everything happened the way it was supposed to.”

It’s refreshing to hear a perspective so free of regret. It’s also apparent that Farrell McCabe isn’t someone who dwells on the road not taken. She’s far more interested in where the next one might lead.

“As much as I’ll miss it, I’m excited to throw myself into something else,” she says. “For a long time everything I did was sewn up in rugby, so breaking away from that has been interesting. I’ve realised certain things about myself and discovered I can actually be good at other things too!

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s been plenty of sadness over the past few weeks. I’ve shared so much with the girls over the past seven years. We leaned on each other through tough times and celebrated some brilliant moments together.

“Rugby has helped me grow in ways I could never have imagined, but those friendships have probably been the greatest gift.”

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Martin Seras Lima

The depth of those friendships would also shape one of the most difficult moments of her career.

Farrell McCabe was there as the Irish Women’s Sevens ran out in front of 80,000 people at the Olympic Games. Only she wasn’t where she had spent years imagining she would be.

A serious ankle injury suffered in the months leading up to the Games meant that she missed the pinnacle of the team’s journey. While she was filled with immense pride as she watched those closest to her realise a dream they had pursued together, the pain of missing out existed in equal measure.

And yet neither emotion lingered quite like the ache of knowing who should have been beside her.

Farrell McCabe had been in action in Hong Kong a few months earlier when she got a phone call no child is ever prepared for. The news she received divided life into before and after. Her father Daryl had passed away unexpectedly.

Thanks to the swift action of the IRFU, she was undertaking the loneliest journey of her young life within hours. And yet, despite the comfort she found by getting home and being with her loved ones, it wasn’t long before Farrell McCabe was back on a plane again to link back up with her teammates in Singapore.

“My dad was the reason I played rugby in the first place,” she says, her voice softening. “He lit a fire in me, and in all of us at home. Everything started with him.

“So while it was obviously very difficult leaving the everyone behind, I felt I owed it to him to keep going and to keep chasing the Olympic dream. I know that’s what he would have wanted for me and the rest of my family understood that too.”

For a while, rugby became more than a profession or a pursuit. It became an anchor that connected her to her father… until it was all taken away two months later.

“It felt so cruel that I just couldn’t believe it,” she says of the injury that would rule her out of Paris 2024. “I think what made it harder was that I realised very quickly how big a part rugby had to play in helping me cope with losing Dad. Suddenly, that crutch was taken away.

“The thing about grief is that it will always catch up with you, doesn’t it? Before the injury I was probably a bit surprised at how well I was coping with everything but when I look back now I can see that the grief was hiding behind everything I was doing to get myself into the team.

“Even though my rehab meant I still had a lot of work to get through, for the first time in months I felt I had a bit of head space because selection for the Olympics wasn’t a concern anymore. As difficult as that was, I like to think things happen for a reason because it gave me the time I needed to process everything that had happened.”

Shaped as much by the loss of her father as the end of her professional contract, Farrell McCabe found herself looking at rugby through a very different lens as her contract came to an end.

Stepping away from rugby allowed her to see that the game had given her far more than international caps, unforgettable memories and Olympic aspirations.

“When you’re in a high-performance environment every single day you can’t help but develop things like your resilience, adaptability and accountability ,” she says. “The funny thing is that I didn’t appreciate those skills enough until I began to step away.

“When you’re facing into a challenge of some sort, it’s kind of comforting to know you have the skills to deal with it. People will obviously talk about athletic ability and the competitiveness, but it’s the others skills that rugby develops that become really valuable in other careers.”

Those qualities are already helping her put shape on the next part of her young life.

Introduced to Fad Saoil Saunas through former Connacht Rugby player Oisín Michel, Farrell McCabe initially joined the company on a part-time basis while she was still playing. However, her role quickly evolved and when Michel moved on, Farrell McCabe saw her opportunity.  

“It was really the people that drew me in,” she says. “Steve [Crosbie], Oisín and everyone on the team just seemed really like-minded. I needed a bit of stability and Fad Saoil felt like somewhere I could learn and grow while I figured a few things out.

“I’ve only been in my managerial role few weeks,” she adds. “Thankfully the place hasn’t gone up in flames so I’m enjoying it!”

Spend any time in Farrell McCabe’s company and one thing quickly becomes obvious: she is energised by possibility. She is keenly aware that her transition isn’t about trying to replicate the rugby buzz. Instead it has been about rediscovering parts of herself that had simply been waiting for an opportunity.

For instance, a workshop with the Dublin Fire Brigade organised through Rugby Players Ireland reignited a long-held ambition of becoming a firefighter or paramedic. A site visit to Stripe organised through former players Tom Daly and Cónan O’Donnell, opened her eyes to opportunities in technology and sales.

“I probably didn’t give enough credit to other players chipped away at other things while they were still playing,” she says candidly. “By the time their rugby had finished they had done a lot of work figuring out what they did or didn’t enjoy. I’m not afraid to admit that I just wanted to focus on the rugby.  

“Looking back, I probably ignored some good advice and as a result I’ve got a bit of catching up to do, but I’m still young and have time on my side. Along with everything else, rugby has given me a strong network of people who genuinely want to help, and that’s a pretty good place to start.

“Like, if I was giving advice to my 16-year -old self I’d tell her to take the same path. I’d tell her to have more trust in herself and to never be afraid to step out of her comfort zone.

“That’s where the best things happen.”

It is advice she continues to live by.

The girl who chose rugby over the conventional path has become the woman prepared to step into another unfamiliar world with the same curiosity and self-belief. Whether that next chapter leads to a fire station, a corporate office or somewhere she hasn’t yet imagined matters less than her willingness to embrace the opportunity when it comes.

Perhaps that’s the greatest measure of a successful sporting career. Not that it leaves you with all the answers, but that it gives you the confidence to keep asking questions, to keep learning and to trust yourself wherever the road leads.

Kate Farrell McCabe knows the first step doesn’t have to be the final one. The important thing is having the courage to take it.