Clare Shine, Mind Her?

In just 5 seasons in Scotland she more than cemented herself as one of the country's icons. A cup final forever remembered as her day, tears in the stands as she waved goodbye. An unforgettable pler.

With thanks to Joelle Murray, Susan Ronan, and the Glasgow City Supporters group for their contributions.

The SWPL has seen many fantastic players come and go. Some forged in the competition before going on to have successful careers elsewhere, some finding the league as a short stop on their journey. But, there is a select few who take their place in Scottish football folklore. Every touch another mark as they write their story on the corridors of history.

Few can say they have made a bigger mark than Clare Shine.

Content warning: the following article contains reference to alcohol abuse and suicide ideation. If you or anyone you know are struggling with these, you can find resources to help at Alcoholics Anonymous and SAMH.

Glasgow City’s Cork born icon retired in 2022 at the age of 27, a decision she had toiled with for a while as she felt she had to step away to allow her to prioritise herself. But, to really do her story justice we need to go back to before the SWPL when Shine was lining up alongside the likes of Megan Campbell, Katie McCabe, and Ciara Grant on home soil.

As far back as 2010, it was clear Shine had the talent to mark her name in football’s storied history. She was playing for her local team, Douglas Hall, when the call came from the National Team set up to book a trip to Switzerland. Current FIFA Women’s Technical Consultant, and former Ireland manager, Sue Ronan told us how that experience started to build excitement over her talent.

I was aware of Clare’s potential from a very early stage. She was part of our very successful U17 Squad in 2010 who won a silver medal in the European Championships and as a result, qualified for the World Cup Finals in Trinidad and Tobago later that year.

As a 15-year-old she didn’t get too much game-time in either tournament, but the fact she was part of the squad at such a young age showed what a talented player she was and the experience of being at the final of two major tournaments would have been a great learning curve for her at the time.

While all this was going on, Shine was creating headlines in a different sport entirely as we take a detour into the unfamiliar surroundings of Camogie territory. Before we begin, Irish people we reckon you can just skip this bit to save yourself the annoyance of someone that’s not Irish explaining an Irish thing they’ve seen on the tele a handful of times, usually while only half paying attention…

It’s a Gaelic (that’s Gaelic not Gaelic) sport that has been given the title of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ by UNESCO and is played using a stick (hurley) and ball (sliotar). To cut a lot of rules down to a very short sentence while we get on with Shine’s story, you hit the sliotar with the hurley into a goal or over some goal posts for a different number of points. Kind of like if you took hockey, rugby, and football and put them in the wash together without any colour protection. Bleeding your nice whites, oranges, and greens into each other and ending up with a new olive coloured sport (we did tell you to skip it if you’re Irish, it’s not our fault that analogy is flawed). So, back to Shine.

In 2012, Shine was playing her football for Cork City while also turning out for Cork’s camogie side. She played her part in their run to the 2012 All-Ireland final at Croke Park where she was a late change to the starting team in front of around 15,000 people. A runners up medal providing disappointment on the day, but another immense achievement for 17-year-old Shine.

A move to Raheny United ended her time playing camogie as she chose to focus on football. That decision had her scoring her way to a league and cup double, playing in the Champions League, and continuing to build her reputation high. However, it all very nearly came to an end in 2014.

With the under-19 EUROs on the horizon, a chance for Shine to put herself in the spotlight and represent her country on the continental stage, Shine suffered a broken leg. A test of character for a young player, but one that Ronan and the Ireland staff weren’t worried about her failing.

[It is] a bad injury as a young player, which was obviously a big blow to her personally since she was playing so well for her club and with a major tournament on the horizon for the U19s. However, we always felt she would return to the player she was following the injury because of her ability and that’s exactly what happened when against the odds, she did return to play in the 2014 U19 European Championship Finals. Scoring a fantastic winning goal against a previously unbeaten Spain in the opening game (HYT note: make a mental note of that opponent, it will come up again).

A year later she was on her way East, and Glasgow City were about to enter a new era.

It was another SWPL icon that put that move in motion. Denise O’Sullivan had just won back-to-back players’, coaches’, and fans’ player of the year awards at the SWPL’s most successful club and suggested her international teammate make the short trip across the Irish sea for a fortnight long trial (along with Katie McCabe who apparently became quite good despite staying in Ireland after the trial). The 20-year-old had two weeks to make her mark on Eddie Wolecki Black, and that she did. The City manager told the BBC at the time “There is no doubt she has talent and will score goals for City - of that I am certain.”

The deal made official at the end of May. By November she was lining up at Ainslie Park for the Scottish Cup final, in a team absolutely stacked with heroes of Scottish football. Corsie, Lauder, O’Sullivan, Love, Ross, Cuthbert, Fleeting, Alexander (now Gibson) amongst the Glasgow City side on the day, but it was 20-year-old Shine who made the headlines. Enshrining herself in Glasgow City folklore just five months into her career in orange and black.

Hibernian (another opponent to make a note of) succumb to City’s press and a bouncing pass misses its target, falling to Shine on the edge of the box. With no worries about the onrushing defender or goalkeeper, and no need for a touch, Shine strikes the ball perfectly into the top corner. Hitting the underside of the crossbar and bouncing back up into the roof of the net to make it 1-0. Very aesthetically pleasing, and very Clare Shine.

Into the second half, Hibernian holding on and creating more and more of their own, Erin Cuthbert lofts a through ball over the heads of the defence. Shine watches the bounce, takes a deft touch with her head, left foot, half volley, bottom corner. 2-0. A goal of such quality Jo Love even risks friction burn for a knee slide on the Ainslie Park turf. She wasn’t done there either, a late long ball forward should have been easily dealt with but the scuffed clearance fell to Shine 40 yards out. She drove forward towards the box, calmly slotting the ball passed the keeper and into the far corner. A hat trick ball to go with her first title in Scotland, very Clare Shine.

Sue Ronan’s description of the seven-time Ireland international perfectly encapsulated by 90 minutes in her first cup final outside of the Emerald Isle.

[She] was such a talented player, with bundles of natural ability and a real instinct for goal. She was very pacey and a great finisher, vital ingredients in forward players. She liked to play on the shoulder of her opponent’s defence, something she had great success with at club level and once she got a sniff of the ball in behind her opponent, it generally ended up in the back of the net.

The way she played on that day, and for her entire career in SWPL, won plaudits from teammate and rival alike. She was a striker reminiscent of the ones that make you fall in love with football, the ones in your memories scoring almost every game. Former Hibernian captain Joelle Murray, defender in the aforementioned cup final, was full of praise for her former rival.

[She] was a very difficult opponent; she was very physical which meant when she pinned you it was hard to step and get the ball off her. Unlike many strikers with that attribute, she was also very agile and could turn quickly, peeling into the space she had just lured you out of.

Shortly after that final, Sue Ronan was on the phone to bring the 18-year- old into the senior national team fold for the first time.

I called [her] up to my squad for our game against Spain in Dublin in November 2015. While Spain had yet to win a major trophy at senior level at that time, they had won a number of underage final tournaments so were well on the way to establishing themselves as one of the most exciting teams in the world. Even then they played a very technical ‘Barcelona’ style of football, so it was a big ask for us to get a result against them, particularly since at that time the majority of my squad was made up of home-based players who were playing in an amateur League of Ireland, which had only started a few years previously.

That aside, Clare definitely didn’t look out of place in training sessions with/against the more experienced players in the squad, so it was exciting to think what she could bring to the team in the future. I decided to give her some experience at the highest level by bringing her on in that game.

A senior Ireland debut, goals and trophies at club level, on the pitch she was flying. The Scottish Cup and league title were to come later in that season as she led the line in a treble winning side. A further two league titles were to come before Shine headed back home in 2017.

Off the pitch Shine had been struggling with her mental health for a number of years, pre-dating her time at Glasgow City, but exacerbated by life away from her family and friends. She left the club to go back to Ireland. On her return home she told the42 “I just wanted to recharge the batteries, you could say, and start again.”

The next few years of Shine’s life off the pitch are a story that she has been open with as she has entered a new chapter of her life. It is her story to tell, and one that she has detailed in her book. Her ability to be open about these experiences are an inspiration as she hopes to encourage those struggling not to suffer alone. Joelle Murray credits her for doing so.

I think [her openness] provides comfort in other players who are maybe going through the same issues. I think it’s extremely admirable and I have a lot of respect for her as a player and as a person.

In 2018 she hit a low point and attempted to take her own life while drunk, that moment led to her entering rehab. Over a year sober, she returned to Glasgow City. But, just months after the highs of her brace leading to a Scottish Cup trophy she relapsed. A missing person’s appeal going as far as being shared by the sitting First Minister as she made a second attempt on her life. Fortunately, she had the support of family and friends and was able to recover for a second time, returning to the pitch for Glasgow City in the 20/21 season.

City fan Chris told us how her journey through addiction, and openness with how she struggled, has been influential to them.

She had a determination and influence that extended far beyond the pitch. Learning of her journey, marked by ups and downs, served me with a reminder that true greatness was forged through her resilience.

Her story on the pitch within the SWPL is headlined by that Scottish Cup final five years ago. Over 3,000 fans turned out to Tynecastle to witness greatness. Just as City looked to be headed towards another cup final loss against Hibernian, the record title holders heading into the final 20 minutes with a 3-2 lead, Shine was there to turn things upside down.

70 minutes gone, multiple City chances had passed by and the game was beginning to calm down. Hayley Lauder stood over a corner on the far side of the pitch, a left footed in-swinger - her speciality. Shine had made a late run to lose the attention of any defensive presence. The ball, perfect, over the top of everyone for her to meet with a powerful header. In that moment, inside Tynecastle, it was almost as if sound and time stopped. The only movement the ball into the top corner, the only sound the swish of the net. And then it erupted. Three all, and Shine’s special moments weren’t done there.

With mere seconds left on the clock a Hibernian attack broke down and Sam Kerr hit a long ball into the right channel with nothing but hope guiding it into the path of the speeding Clare Shine. Hunter baring down on her and Murray between her and the goal, she slowed it down as she entered the box, feigning left and right to lose the attention of one of Scottish football’s most successful defensive partnerships. The ball shifted out to her left foot, a powerful strike headed towards goal. Whatever happened next is between Shine and the universe, but the next thing those in attendance saw was the number 10 getting up from a knee slide to be enveloped by her onrushing teammates.

That moment stands out in City fan Karen’s memories of the Ireland international.

That goal against Hibs was an absolute thing of beauty, I remember leaping about like an idiot!

It was another final against Shine for Joelle Murray, who also featured in many a fierce league game against the Ireland international, and she gave us some insight into what made Shine such a difficult opponent - and how opposition teams would pinpoint that.

She was a striker who had many attributes which meant she could play as a focal point, giving length to the game, but could also drop into pockets of space to link the play. Because of this it made her difficult to play against because you didn’t know if she was going to pin you, run the channel or drop you into space to then spin in behind.

Over and above all of that, she scored goals, and sometimes very crucial ones which, from an opposition perspective always made her a key player and one we would earmark prior to any game against City.

Another league title came in 2020/21, a double figures goal tally and goal of the season in 2021/22.

Then, in 2022/23, came the shock announcement that she was stepping away from football. After five appearances, including an opening day hat trick against Spartans, she had decided that it was her time to bow out. One last day out at Peasy for City fans to show their love and appreciation, and a chance for her brother to see how much his wee sister had impacted one of the biggest clubs in women’s football. Tears, laughter, and most importantly 3 points for Glasgow City in a season that would end in a dramatic title win.

Another medal to add to her collection. A fitting tribute to an unforgettable pler.