Casey Howe: From Fermanagh to Celtic's Bright Lights
From Maguiresbridge’s back roads to Celtic’s bright lights, Casey Howe has crammed a lot into 23 years. Yet the way she tells it, this might only be the start.
A Northern Ireland debut at 17. A treble with Glentoran. A move to Nottingham Forest. Promotion with Wolves. A prolific spell at Athlone Town. Each stop has toughened the forward from County Fermanagh, each one nudging her closer to the elite stage she now occupies in Glasgow.
And on just her second outing in green and white, she announced herself.
With Celtic still locked at 0-0 against Montrose in the 82nd minute of last Sunday’s SWPL game, the ball dropped to Howe on the left. One touch, a shift, and then that left foot wrapped around it. A curling finish, arcing into the far corner, finally broke the resistance and opened the door to an eventual 3-0 win.
For Howe, it was a moment that felt a long way from Maguiresbridge.
“Being just a young girl from Maguiresbridge, it is pretty surreal to do this,” she told BBC Sport NI, the understatement hinting at a journey built on long nights and longer drives.
Miles, sacrifice and a belief that held
The route to Celtic’s state-of-the-art Barrowfield training centre was not glamorous. It was parents in the car, four or five evenings a week, chasing opportunity wherever it appeared.
- Ballinamallard.
- Cookstown.
- Belfast.
- Repeat.
“They wanted to give me the best platform to be the best I can,” she said.
“They were massive in enabling me to take these opportunities and get these opportunities because if it wasn't for them sacrificing a lot of driving, a lot of miles, I wouldn't be here.”
Those miles underpinned everything that followed. Spells with Linfield, Glentoran and Sligo Rovers sharpened her edge at home and across Ireland. Then came Athlone Town, where a prolific run in the League of Ireland Women's Premier Division made people across the water sit up and take notice.
Celtic came next. And for Howe, this feels like the right fit at the right time.
A style that sets her free
At Barrowfield, the standard has gone up again. The tempo is higher, the detail sharper, the demands greater.
“I think as a player, you're always looking to develop in any training session,” she said. “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.”
Celtic’s front-foot approach suits her instincts. The 14-cap international thrives when the game opens up and she can attack space, drift into pockets and drive at defenders.
“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, is when you're attacking and playing free-flowing football.
“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 too.
“I've played under people in the past where it's almost robotic. You have to do this movement, that movement,” she said. “But 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.
“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.”
The goal against Montrose was proof of that freedom in action: instinct, expression, execution.
Fermanagh roots, wider ambitions
For all the progress, Howe’s connection to home remains strong. She knows exactly how hard it is for young players from Fermanagh and other rural pockets of Northern Ireland to break through.
“I think sometimes it's hard because being from Fermanagh you don't necessarily have the facilities on your doorstep,” she explained. “A lot of the time, a lot of girls, even young girls now, will still have to travel up and down.”
She has lived that grind. The hours on the road, the schoolwork squeezed into the gaps, the weekends swallowed by football. But her message is clear: if the journey ends with medals and moments like Sunday’s, it is worth it.
“All the sacrifices, as we spoke about earlier, like, winning makes it all worth it.”
Her rise is not just a personal story. It feeds directly into Northern Ireland’s future.
Howe already has her caps, but she wants something more lasting than appearances on a team sheet.
“I want to leave the Northern Ireland shirt in a better place than when I came in. I always want that legacy to continue to build and grow.”
That sense of duty stretches beyond the national side and across borders.
“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 and 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,” she said.
From Ballinamallard United to Barrowfield, from those late-night drives out of Fermanagh to scoring for one of Scotland’s biggest clubs, Howe has already travelled a long way.
Now comes the real test: trophies to chase with Celtic, a green shirt to elevate, and a generation of young girls watching to see if her story can light the road for theirs.
