Casey Howe's Inspiring Journey in Women's Football

From Maguiresbridge to the East End of Glasgow, Casey Howe’s football journey has rarely taken the easy road. It has, however, taken her somewhere serious.

A Northern Ireland debut at 17. A treble with Glentoran. A move to Nottingham Forest. Promotion with Wolves. Now, at 23, she is pulling on the shirt of Celtic, one of the powerhouses of Scottish women’s football, and already leaving a mark.

On just her second appearance for the club last Sunday, Howe produced the kind of moment that lingers. With the Scottish Women’s Premier League game against Montrose locked at 0-0 and time draining away, the ball dropped to her on the left. One touch, a shift, and then a gorgeous left-footed curler that arced into the far corner in the 82nd minute. The deadlock gone. The tension gone. Celtic went on to win 3-0, but it was Howe who had prised the door open.

For a self-described “young girl from Maguiresbridge”, it felt surreal. The route to Celtic’s state-of-the-art Barrowfield training centre has been anything but straightforward, stitched together by long car journeys, family sacrifice and a stubborn belief that she could live at the highest level.

Her parents clocked up the miles before she ever did. Ballinamallard. Cookstown. Belfast. Four or five nights a week. Training, matches, trials. They drove; she ran, dribbled, scored, learned.

“They wanted to give me the best platform to be the best I can,” she said, reflecting on those years. Without those late-night returns and endless motorway stretches, she knows she would not be here. “If it wasn't for them sacrificing a lot of driving, a lot of miles, I wouldn't be here.”

Those miles helped her climb through the domestic game. Linfield, then Glentoran, then Sligo Rovers. The real lift-off came at Athlone Town in the League of Ireland Women’s Premier Division, where a prolific spell pushed her firmly onto the radar across the water.

Nottingham Forest followed. Then Wolves and promotion. Each move hardened her, sharpened her, exposed her to new demands. Now, at Celtic, she believes she has found the perfect environment to stretch her game again.

“I think as a player, you're always looking to develop in any training session,” she said. At Barrowfield, the tactical side has cranked up another notch. Under head coach Grant Scott, Celtic demand flexibility, intelligence and constant adaptation. “It's definitely a big improvement tactically, and we're adapting to different styles, getting used to how Grant Scott wants us to play, so we're always adapting tactically and keeping on top of the technical stuff.”

What really excites her is the licence in the final third. Celtic want to attack. They want to dominate. For a 14-cap international forward who loves to run at defenders, it is an ideal fit.

“We're trying to play a nice attacking brand of football, and as an attacker myself, that's the way you want to play and want to be a part of,” she said. Free-flowing, front-foot football, with room to improvise. “I think that's when you get the best out of people, is when you have that freedom to go forward and make different runs, make different movements, and dribble and drive at people so it's definitely perfect for the way I like to play.”

She has known the other side of it. Systems where everything is scripted. Movements mapped out in advance. “I've played under people in the past where it's almost robotic. You have to do this movement, that movement,” she admitted. Celtic feels different. There is structure, but also trust.

“To have the freedom to be allowed to run into different areas or make different movements, it just makes for an all-round performance, team-wise, because everyone's moving,” she said. That constant rotation makes them awkward to defend and lifts her own belief. “It makes it difficult to play against, so it definitely gives you confidence as a player. I think you're being backed to do that, and you're being allowed to do that. It definitely gives you confidence.”

For all the new surroundings, the connection to home remains strong. Howe understands the hurdles facing young footballers in Fermanagh and across Northern Ireland, because she lived them.

“I think sometimes it's hard because being from Fermanagh you don't necessarily have the facilities on your doorstep,” she explained. Pitches, coaching, gyms – nothing is around the corner. “A lot of the time, a lot of girls, even young girls now, will still have to travel up and down.”

Those long drives that defined her teenage years are still part of the story for the next wave. Howe’s message is simple: it is worth it. “All the sacrifices, as we spoke about earlier, like, winning makes it all worth it.”

Her growth at Celtic is not just about club ambitions. It feeds directly into Northern Ireland’s hopes. Howe’s international debut came early, but her aims now stretch well beyond appearances or goals.

“I want to leave the Northern Ireland shirt in a better place than when I came in,” she said. The national team has already broken ground in recent years; she wants that trajectory to continue. “I always want that legacy to continue to build and grow.”

That word – legacy – keeps coming back. It is not just about trophies or promotions. It is about visibility. Pathways. Proof.

“If I can leave women's football in Northern Ireland, in Scotland, in England that 1% better than when I joined it – that's a win for me,” she said. If that 1% shift convinces a girl in Fermanagh to stay with the game, to believe there is a road out from a small village to the professional stage, then it matters. “If that inspires young girls in Fermanagh to push on and know that there is a path there then that's good enough for me.”

From Ballinamallard United to Barrowfield, from those cramped car journeys to a curling winner in the SWPL, Howe has already travelled far. Yet the sense is that this is not a destination, just another junction.

There are titles to chase with Celtic. There is a green shirt to elevate. There are young girls at home watching every clip and every goal, wondering if they might be next.

For Casey Howe, the road that started on the back roads of Fermanagh is still wide open.