Celtic confirm double cup winning star Sarah Harkes has retired from football

Celtic FC Women confirmed this evening that American midfielder Sarah Harkes has officially retired as a professional footballer. Married to Dundee United Ian Harkes – both of them scored on the same day last season, one for Celtic and the other against Celtic – Sarah can claim two winning goal assists in both Cup Finals last year.

The Celtic Star confirmed at the start of the season that Fran Alonso had told us that Sarah Harkes had left the club but would be making her own annoucement in due course. That has now happened and we obviously wish Sarah, who has been a hugely impressive performer in the Hoops all the best for whatever is next.

On those two cup final assists for the winning goals here’s what happened.

A superb delivery from a free-kick on the right hand side midway inside the Glasgow City half at Firhill last December perfectly found the head of Caitlin Hayes and her bullet of a header was simply unstoppable. That was the only goal of the game and it gave Celtic our first League Cup triumph in a decade.

Then in May Tynecastle Hayes brilliantly sent super-sub Izzy Aitkinson through on goal and her wonderful finish will be long remembered by the Celtic support as the Scottish Cup headed to Paradise for the first time ever. What a day that was with ten players for 70 minutes including an extra half hour of extra time, honest mistakes going against them but emerged as 3-2 winners.

Happy retirement to Sarah Harkes, it’s been a pleasure watching you perform in the Hoops with such courage, skill, determination and distinction.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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