Casey Howe's Journey: From Fermanagh to Celtic

From the back roads of Maguiresbridge to the bright lights of Celtic, Casey Howe has already crammed a lot into 23 years. Northern Ireland debut at 17. A treble with Glentoran. A move to Nottingham Forest. Promotion with Wolves. Now she’s landed at one of the powerhouses of Scottish women’s football – and this chapter feels different.

It feels like the one she has been driving towards for years.

A long road from Fermanagh

The journey really started in County Fermanagh, with parents who turned their car into a shuttle service for a football dream. Ballinamallard. Cookstown. Belfast. Four or five nights a week.

"They wanted to give me the best platform to be the best I can," Howe told BBC Sport NI. If they hadn’t put in the miles, she knows she wouldn’t be here.

Those trips built the foundation. From Linfield to Glentoran, then Sligo Rovers, each move nudged her standard higher. At Athlone Town in the League of Ireland Women’s Premier Division, her prolific form finally made people across the water sit up and take notice.

Now it’s Barrowfield in Glasgow’s East End – a state-of-the-art training base, a different level of expectation, and a club that wants trophies every season.

For a self-described “young girl from Maguiresbridge”, it is, as she put it, “pretty surreal”.

Making her mark at Celtic

It hasn’t taken long for Howe to introduce herself properly to Celtic supporters.

On just her second appearance, with tension building and time draining away against Montrose in the SWPL, she stepped inside and curled a left-footed finish into the far corner in the 82nd minute. Deadlock broken. Nerves eased. Celtic went on to win 3-0, but it was Howe who cracked the game open.

It was the kind of goal that tells a new dressing room you belong.

At Celtic, she feels she’s stepped into an environment that can stretch every part of her game. Sessions are sharper. Demands are higher. The tactical detail is relentless.

"I think as a player, you're always looking to develop in any training session," she said. The work under head coach Grant Scott is already changing her.

"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."

Freedom in the final third

What really lights her up is Celtic’s attacking intent. This is a team that wants the ball, wants to go forward, and wants its forwards to take risks.

"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 explained. Free-flowing, front-foot, expressive football – exactly her kind of stage.

"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’s known the other side of it too – systems where every movement is prescribed.

"I've played under people in the past where it's almost robotic. You have to do this movement, that movement," she said. Celtic feels different. Space to roam. Licence to improvise.

"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."

For a 14-cap international forward still shaping her prime years, that trust matters.

Carrying home with her

For all the new surroundings, Fermanagh is never far from her mind. She knows exactly how hard it can be for young players coming through in rural Northern Ireland.

"I think sometimes it's hard because being from Fermanagh you don't necessarily have the facilities on your doorstep," she said. "A lot of the time, a lot of girls, even young girls now, will still have to travel up and down."

She’s lived that reality. The late nights. The long drives. The early starts. None of it glamorous. All of it essential.

"All the sacrifices, as we spoke about earlier, like, winning makes it all worth it."

Those wins might now come in Celtic green and white, but the ripple effect stretches back across the Irish Sea.

A bigger picture: club and country

Howe isn’t just thinking about her own career. Her form in Glasgow could be a major boost for Northern Ireland as well.

She broke into the national team as a teenager. Now she wants to help push it to a different level.

"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 word – legacy – keeps coming back. For Howe, it’s not just about medals and promotions. It’s about what comes after her.

"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% persuades a girl in Fermanagh to keep going, to believe there is a pathway, that’s enough.

From Ballinamallard United to Barrowfield, from those first drives out of Fermanagh to scoring for Celtic in the SWPL, she has already travelled a long way.

But with trophies to hunt in Glasgow, a Northern Ireland shirt she wants to elevate, and a generation back home watching every step, it feels like Casey Howe’s journey is only just hitting its stride.