'Constant carnage': The happy Hibs hitman juggling twins, full fitness fight and Europe tilt

Kieron Bowie has got his hands full at the age of 22. As well as trying to regain full fitness from a serious hamstring tear and break into the Hibs first team, he also has twin daughters who more than keep him occupied.

Bowie wouldn’t have it any other way, though. Back in Scotland after four years in England with Fulham and Northampton Town, he and his partner Brooke are enjoying home life in Kirkcaldy and the support of their family as they raise Victoria and Florence, who turn two in June.

Although Bowie does admit that it is his other half who is doing the majority of the heavy lifting.

Kieron Bowie says he will not be fully firing at Hibs until next season. | SNS Group

“It's good to be back at home,” said Bowie, who is contracted to Hibs until 2028. “My parents are here, so for my partner and my two little girls, they're there all the time having sleepovers at my parents' house and stuff. So we didn't have that down there [in England].

“We were constantly parenting, so now we can sort of have nights to ourselves. So it's good to get a bit of a break sometimes.”

“To be fair, my partner's very good. I don't know how she does it, honestly. I go home and they go to sleep a few hours after I'm home, and I'm knackered. So she does it for a full day, but yeah, credit to her. I mean, she does most of the work.

“Days off are like a full-time job for me. It's actually harder than being in here [at Hibs’ Training Centre]! Yeah, just carnage now. Constant carnage.”

Bowie won’t be full throttle at Hibs until next season

Bowie is smiling as he speaks ahead of Sunday’s Premiership match against Dundee at Easter Road. He is in a good place right now. The former Scotland Under-21 internationalist was sidelined for nearly four months when he ruptured his hamstring on international duty last September and required surgery. Head coach David Gray has drip-fed him back into the team as his workload is carefully managed. The ex-Raith kid has played his part in the team’s 16-game unbeaten league run that has taken them to third in the Premiership - but we will not see the best of him until next season.

“I'm just trying to get back to full fitness,” continued Bowie. “I'm still not even there yet, so it'll probably be next season before I'm actually fully myself, but I'm just trying to do as best as I can.

“I've shown glimpses of what I can do, but to actually do that I need to build full fitness, but yeah, we'll get there. In training you can see I'm just a little bit... it's just like playing catch-up, isn't it? Because everyone else has had a pre-season and stuff, and I've not had that, and then I'm coming back and doing runs and stuff.

Kieron Bowie has scored three goals for Hibs this season. | SNS Group

“But there's only so much you can do, especially when you're playing games every week. You can't really do runs generally, because you want to be fully recovered for the weekend.

“I think it's just I've played three or four games from the start, and then now it's sort of took its toll on me a little bit. So we're just trying to manage it, and then just building my way back up in training, and then hopefully get back on the team eventually.”

Bowie sings the praises of Gray in the way that he has managed Bowie’s recovery. “Oh, definitely,” the striker, who has netted three goals this season, added. “He knew he didn't want to rush me back, so he just took a step back and just let me crack on. And then when the physio said he gave the green light, I was sort of just ready to go, and he could start feeding me back in.”