Happy birthday to history-making footballer Katie Louise Bowe

One of the finest talents North Wales women’s football has produced celebrates a special occasion today.

Born on January 10, 1991, in St David’s Hospital, Bangor, it’s a big happy birthday to Katie Louise Bowe.

An attacking player and predominantly left-footed, she can also score goals with her right and occasionally her head.

Katie first started playing football at the age of six and soon joined the Bangor area Maes-y-Bryn boys under-7 team.

An outstanding player throughout her school years, Katie represented North Wales sides all through her youth and featured in the Wales Under-17 national squads for matches against Switzerland and England.

With long-time highly respected women’s football coach Keith Fearns a major influence, in her late teens Katie became a key player in the successful Caernarfon Town ladies teams of the late first millennium decade.

She was a stand-out performer when the Canaries competed in the Welsh Premier Women’s League Northern Conference and won the title in 2009-10.

Town made it back-to-back Northern championships in 2010-11, Katie scoring twice in a title-clinching 2-0 win over Wrexham.

She also grabbed a hat-trick as Town beat Llandudno Junction 4-1 to lift the Maurice Naylor Cup.

During this spell, Caernarfon met Swansea City twice in the all-Wales WPWL final and also in the Welsh Cup Final, losing to the Swans on each occasion.

Katie remained with the Cofis when the WPWL went fully national in 2012-13, but later joined Llandudno Junction (who were to become Llandudno).

Her time at Maesdu Park was often a magical one, filled with remarkable long-range goals from free kicks and open play.

She regularly displayed sublime passing ability and a penchant for scoring direct from corners.

In the 2015/16 season, Katie scored 21 goals and inspired Llandudno to their first-ever Welsh Cup final.

Taking on Cardiff City FC Women at Latham Park, Newtown, Katie scored a stunning opening goal from over 20 yards just minutes into the match.

Although Tudno eventually lost 5-2, Katie became the first woman ever to be nominated for S4C Sgorio’s Goal of the Month award.

Injuries held her back for the next couple of seasons before she rejoined Caernarfon Town, whose ill-fated Welsh Premier return ended just five games into the 2018-19 season when the club resigned.

The 2019-20 season saw Katie sign for Mountain Rangers. She scored seven goals on debut and netted 11 times in six games, but the season was cut short by Covid-19.

This season Katie is playing for Pwllheli in the new tier 2 Genero Adran North League.

She has helped Pwllheli reach the quarter-finals of the Welsh Cup, scoring the winning goal which knocked out her old club Llandudno.

Happy birthday Katie – have an amazing day. ⭐⭐⭐🎂⚽⚽⚽