St Mirren Women striker Ceara Macintyre insists scoring for her hometown team at the SMiSA Stadium made all her hours of painful rehab worthwhile.
The Buddies supporter almost bid farewell to the beautiful game when she suffered an ACL injury that threatened an early end to her football career.
The pacey forward’s desire to pull on the Saints shirt of the team she’s supported her whole life played a huge part in her battling back to full fitness.
And all of that hard work paid off on Sunday afternoon when she netted St Mirren’s opener against Stenhousemuir at the club’s Paisley home ground.
Macintyre told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “It was definitely a special moment to score that goal.
“Playing at the stadium does add something to the games and it was a another great day all-round.
“To be honest I was most worried about my dad missing it! I knew my mum was in by kick-off but my dad was a little late getting in.
“He promised me he’d seen it as he walked into the stand, so that was a big relief.
“I know some people plan celebrations but I always think that doesn’t work because then you never actually score. I think people could tell I hadn’t planned a celebration because I really didn’t know what to do with myself after I’d scored!
“I was trying to make it to the dugout but Kelly Ross ended up slide-tackling me to the ground. There was a big pile-on and it was a moment I’ll always remember.
“The only reason I came back from my ACL injury was to play for the Saints.
“That goal did feel like a reward for every rainy training session and every long shift to even make training sessions. It’s all paid off this season.”
Sunday afternoon’s clash with Stenhousemuir was the Buddies second game at the SMiSA Stadium this season, having previously beaten Westdyke 3-0 there back in November.
Macintyre was disappointed the Saints couldn’t maintain their 100 per cent record at the ground, with the visitors recovering from her early close-range strike to seal a 1-1 draw.
But the striker, who has been prolific up front for Kate Cooper’s side this season, firmly believes the club have developed a huge amount throughout this season, with a fifth-placed finish now confirmed with just one game left against SWF League One champions FC Edinburgh.
Macintyre said: “It’s been a special season for us. We would have liked to have delivered the result against Stenny, but we had a horrible spell in the middle of the game when we came right off the boil.
“We owe a big thank you to Keith Lasley for getting the game on at the stadium again.
“He told us after the Westdyke game he’d make it happen and he was true to his word.
“Being part of the kit launch this season was brilliant, too, and it shows how much closer the women’s team is to the club now.
“If you look at women’s football in Scotland, the likes of Celtic and Rangers invested in their women’s teams around 15 years ago and they’re seeing the rewards of that now.
“St Mirren are definitely on that path now and it was great for the academy girls to be at the game as well.
“I genuinely believe a lot of them will make it through to the first team, which shows a lot of foresight from the
club.
“Kate is massive on legacy and hopefully we can keep bringing more players through and inspire more girls to keep playing
football.”
On taking on FC Edinburgh away this weekend, who are yet to lose a game all season, Macintyre is still positive they can finish the season with a bang.
She added: “This isn’t a bonus game for us. We’re playing for points because we want to finish the season strongly.
“We’ve had shocks already this season. We’ve beaten Westdyke, beaten Falkirk. We know what we can do and it would be nice to be the team that finally beats Edinburgh.”
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