Niall McCabe (born 6 October 1990) is an Irish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Louisville City FC.

Early life

Personal

McCabe was born in Ringsend, Dublin. 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.

College and youth

McCabe played four years of college soccer at the NCAA Division II Young Harris College between 2010 and 2014, after playing soccer in his high school years with Colaiste Ide in his hometown of Dublin, 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 of the NPSL, but in 2014 moved to Chattanooga FC 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 club Louisville City FC 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; 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). 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 while playing rival FC Cincinnati. 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 where earned both a goal and an assist. 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 Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

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 of MLS; 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; 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

Louisville City FC *

(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

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Niall McCabe
at Louisville City FC {{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)