From Maguiresbridge’s back roads to the bright lights of Celtic, Casey Howe’s journey has never been straightforward. It has, however, always been relentless.
A Northern Ireland debut at 17. A treble with Glentoran. A move to Nottingham Forest. Promotion with Wolves. Each step has pushed the County Fermanagh forward further away from home and deeper into the heart of the women’s game across the UK and Ireland.
Now 23, she has landed at one of Scottish football’s powerhouses, and already looks like she belongs.
A left foot, a late winner, and a statement
On only her second appearance for Celtic, Howe announced herself in the kind of moment players replay in their heads for years.
Montrose had resisted, Celtic had probed, and the clock ticked into the 82nd minute. Then the ball fell to Howe. One touch, a shift onto her left, and a curling finish that bent beyond the goalkeeper and finally cracked open a stubborn Scottish Women’s Premier League match.
The goal set Celtic on their way to a 3-0 win. For Howe, it felt like confirmation.
“Being just a young girl from Maguiresbridge, it is pretty surreal to do this,” she told BBC Sport NI. The line sounds simple, but it carries all the miles, all the nights on the road, all the doubts she had to outrun.
Built on miles, not shortcuts
Her story does not begin at a glossy academy or a big-city training base. It begins in cars.
Her parents drove her to Ballinamallard, Cookstown and Belfast four or five times a week as she climbed through the youth ranks. Long roads, late nights, early starts. No shortcuts, just commitment.
“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 laid the foundation. Spells with Linfield, Glentoran and Sligo Rovers sharpened her game at home and across the island. 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.
The offers followed. Howe went. And she kept climbing.
Finding her fit at Celtic
Celtic feels different. The scale of the club, the expectations, the daily standards at the Barrowfield training centre in Glasgow’s East End – it all suits a player who has never been shy of a challenge.
“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.”
This is not just another move. It is a step into an environment where the details matter and the margins are thin, where the way Celtic attack aligns perfectly with how Howe wants to play.
“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.”
Freedom after the “robotic”
Her words reveal a player who has known systems that suffocate as well as those that liberate.
“I've played under people in the past where it's almost robotic. You have to do this movement, that movement,” she admitted. At Celtic, the script is looser, the trust greater.
“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 difference shows. A player who once had to follow arrows on a tactics board now has licence to improvise, to drift, to attack space as she sees it. Defenders hate that. Coaches love it when it works. Howe is determined to make sure it does.
Carrying Fermanagh with her
For all the new surroundings, Howe’s roots remain fixed in Fermanagh. She knows the reality for young players from her county and across Northern Ireland: talent is one thing; access is another.
“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 lived that life. She knows the fatigue, the cost, the strain on families. She also knows what sits at the end of that road.
“All the sacrifices, as we spoke about earlier, like, winning makes it all worth it.”
Her success is not just personal. It is a signpost.
Club ambitions, country legacy
Celtic offers trophies to chase and big games to shape, but Howe’s ambitions stretch beyond club colours.
She has already earned 14 caps for Northern Ireland, and her sense of responsibility in that shirt is clear.
“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.”
Legacy is not an abstract idea for her. It is tied to real girls in real places, wondering if the path is open to them.
“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 endless car journeys to curling one into the top corner for Celtic, Howe has already travelled a long way.
The difference now is that others are following her route. And with medals to win, a national team to elevate and a new chapter just beginning in Glasgow, she is nowhere near the end of the road.
