SAOIRSE NOONAN HAS made a sensational start to life at Celtic, but a few short months ago, she wasn’t particularly enjoying the game.
“I did kind of lose touch with football a bit towards the end of last season,” the Irish striker tells The 42 from her new Glasgow base. “I wasn’t enjoying it much.”
She can’t pinpoint exactly why, but does feel “mental fatigue” played a major role. Noonan had hardly stopped to draw breath since first moving across the water when she signed for Durham in January 2022. She got injured and returned to Shelbourne on loan, then it was back to the Championship and an intense few months in the lead-up to Ireland’s first World Cup.
The Cork native didn’t make the final cut, and six days later, was back in pre-season training, somewhat ignoring the personal setback.
“I don’t think I ever really sat down and reflected on anything,” Noonan says. “I think I just carried that weight on my shoulders every single day in training, every single week, and then I was trying to get back into the Irish team.
“Even when I went back in there, I wasn’t myself. I just couldn’t shake it off me, I just wasn’t able to show up to training and be energetic and be 100% myself. I felt like I was grinding out the days.I think it was just an accumulation of loads of different things that just caught up with me a bit. It’s probably still there a bit.”
The whirlwind has continued at Celtic, an already-hectic calendar amplifying, but Noonan is feeling more like herself again and enjoying her football at the club she has supported since childhood.
Her stats speak for themselves, with 12 goals scored in 13 games — only five of those starts. Noonan’s latest offering was a penalty which inspired a comeback draw against Rangers on Thursday night, while there have been hat-tricks, braces and Champions League goals.
By the time summer hit, Noonan knew she wanted to try something new. Nothing against Durham or the Championship, but she needed a fresh start, a different environment.
From a family of Celtic fans, the Hoops had been in her head. She told her agent it was top of her list, with the opportunity to play Champions League football particularly alluring, but she never thought anything would materialise.
“My uncle, who’s probably the biggest fan out of everyone, would be always asking me, ‘Is it the Hoops? Are we going to ever see you in the Hoops?’ And I was like, ‘Nah. We can dream, but that’s not going to happen.’”
When conversations with the club began, she didn’t want to tell many people. She wouldn’t even wear a Celtic jersey for fear of jinxing it. The contract was agreed on her 25th birthday — 13 July — and the “surreal” news was shared at a family dinner.
“I rang my uncle and he was just roaring down the phone. My granny was crying at the table. You just knew it meant so much to everyone. No one really believed that it was real.
“Obviously, Durham was a big club in the Championship, but we’re Irish, Celtic is one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Even sometimes when I look down and I’m wearing a Celtic badge, it’s like, ‘Did I just buy this in the club shop or do I actually play for this big team?’”
Noonan has had an affinity with the Scottish league since her teenage years watching Clare Shine and Keeva Keenan among the Irish cohort at Glasgow City. For some time, that probably felt like a more viable destination, but she now joins fellow Irish international Caitlin Hayes at Paradise.
She was indeed afraid to fully tell the “team icon” she was signing, should she put a hex on it, and didn’t attend Ireland’s famous win over France at Páirc Uí Chaoimh as she had to travel to Celtic. She didn’t think Hayes would make her first training session two days later, but she was reunited with a familiar face who has helped her settle in.
“Relatable” and “understanding” manager Elena Sadiku, a 30-year-old former player forced to retire through injury, has also eased the transition.
But much of the success has been down to Noonan herself.
“Coming over here, I said one thing: I want to enjoy being on the pitch and just play with freedom. That was the reason I played football at the end of the day. I’ve just been going out there, expressing myself and just enjoying it, not taking it nearly too seriously, but also really focusing and it’s been paying off so far. I’ll keep doing that.”
Life as a professional footballer is far from straightforward. It’s a never-ending cycle of highs and lows, good days and bad days, struggles and strength. From the outside looking in, it can appear dream-like and glamorous, but often is the exact opposite.
It’s all-consuming in the best and worst ways, and a balance must always be struck. Form and minutes can be up and down, and there are no shortage of mentally testing times. Noonan insists it’s a constant case of “trial and error” as she learns to take the bad with the good.
“For me now more than ever, I think that’s probably what I think a lot about. I’m obviously enjoying my football on the pitch, I’m scoring loads of goals, but you do have those days, and there’s a lot of things in the background that no one else sees. No one sees you on the training pitch, no one sees you when you go home.
“They just see those big moments of the goals and, ‘Oh my god, you’re doing so amazing, you’re a professional footballer.’ It can be harder than people think. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but the good nights do help that.
“Like last weekend, making [Champions League] history again for the club, when you do get on the pitch, score goals and feel good about yourself, that does help.”
“Probably the main thing is trying to find something to switch off with outside of football,” the former Cork LGFA star adds, with “escapes” and “detoxes” necessary.
“The little bit of off time we do get, it’s going for a coffee, maybe even alone, just so you’re not talking about football all of the time. It can be really hard, and it can be a lot, and you’re obviously with the same people every single day.
“It is about trying to enjoy the moment but not get too caught up in it. It’s definitely a learning process for everyone, and you don’t know how to deal with it until you’re in it, but yeah, definitely results, winning games and getting on the scoresheet makes it that bit easier.”
Noonan’s family and support network have been crucial through it all too, and getting home to them when the opportunity arises is hugely beneficial. The WhatsApp group is naturally hopping with Celtic-related messages, but nothing beats face-to-face interaction.
“It’s nice to try go into someone else’s world for 24, 48 hours and just switch it off,” she says. “I feel like it just gives me that burst of energy.
“When you see how happy it makes all them, it does make it feel a bit easier. You’re nearly not doing it just for yourself all the time, because it does impact a lot of other people’s lives as well — your partner, your family, your friends.
“They all enjoy watching it as well and you do give them a buzz. Even my granny ringing me, little things like that, make it that bit better.”
While Noonan’s schedule has been “carnage,” there’s no let up over the next few weeks. Celtic will make their Women’s Champions League group stage bow against FC Twente on Tuesday night, having been drawn in a star-studded group with Chelsea and Real Madrid. They’ll balance European commitments with their league title defence, facing Hearts next as they sit third after eight games. It’s a mad time, she grins.
“We were only all sitting out in the garden last night talking about it, kind of laughing, ‘How was this happening? How are we playing Chelsea in Stamford Bridge when we are just little kids knocking around football up in Scotland?’
“We were joking about that, but this is what it’s all about. We have absolutely nothing to lose. I think all those teams have everything to lose, they’re all expected to win and beat us. It’s football, we’ve all been there. We’ve all been the underdogs and plenty of times, come out with a result. Why not? Do we fear them? A little bit, maybe, but we more so respect them. We’re not going to roll over for anyone. We’re going to soak up the experience, try get as many results as we can and see what can happen.”
Things I’ve dreamt of as a child…🥹
— Saoirse Noonan (@saoirse_noonan) September 26, 2024
Never did I think I’d become a pro footballer, play champions league, score a hattrick and go on to qualify for last 16 💚
This is a pinch me moment 🍀🍀 https://t.co/OhMjdoMMWs
The focus is firmly on Celtic at the minute, but the international window looms large. As Ireland gear up to face Georgia in their opening Euro 2025 play-offs towards the end of the month, Noonan has made a real case for a recall.
She hasn’t been included in Eileen Gleeson’s squad in 2024 to date, but should be in contention to return. She’d love nothing more.
“No matter who you are, even if you’ve been in or out, I think that’s always in the back of any player’s mind: can I make the national team? Can I be involved? It’s always there, and I think it always will be there regardless. But there’s all these talents that I’m competing with, the girls are all smashing it in their leagues as well.
“For me, I just have to keep doing what I’m doing and keep performing to the best I can. If I get called in then, then obviously brilliant. I’d absolutely love to be back in.
“But the talent that is in there right now and that’s knocking on the door as well… it’s not just me performing. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing, get the best out of myself and put my name in contention.”
