{"id":345532,"date":"2026-03-14T07:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T07:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/345532\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T07:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T07:16:10","slug":"i-felt-sad-for-a-long-time-with-ireland-but-hopefully-we-are-beginning-to-change-that-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/345532\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I felt sad for a long time with Ireland… but hopefully we are beginning to change that now’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Gavin Cooney<\/p>\n

THE JOURNEY TO these giddy days of Czechia, Budapest, and the Troy Parrott International Airport has been long and torturous for a group of young Irish players fasttracked into senior international football by Stephen Kenny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jayson Molumby\u2019s senior career has encapsulated the struggle: the captain of Kenny\u2019s U21 squad, he made 31 appearances for Ireland prior to the win in Hungary, winning only six of them. He had to wait almost two years for his win \u2013 the 3-0 Nations League victory over Scotland \u2013 while he played in the disastrous defeat to Luxembourg, two heavy losses to England at Wembley, and three of the four chastening defeats to Greece.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough and you obviously doubt yourself,\u201d Molumby tells The 42 from West Brom\u2019s training ground. \u201cAs players, you can selfishly look at it and say, \u2018Awh, I played 20 or 30 times for Ireland, and that\u2019s a decent career to play that often for your country.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me and a lot of the boys, that would not mean a lot at the end of my career, if I don\u2019t represent Ireland in a big tournament, or be involved in massive games in which you feel you\u2019ve achieved things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why you play football. You always play to win, ever since you were a little kid. That doesn\u2019t change when you\u2019re a professional: it\u2019s your job to win and do your best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt sad for a long time with Ireland, I never experienced big highs. It was always big lows. That was tough for a lot of us for a long time, but hopefully we are beginning to change that now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having been left out of the squad for the Yerevan nadir of the 2026 campaign, Molumby returned in October for the narrow loss to Portugal and the limp past Armenia in Dublin. He was suspended for the home victory over Portugal but returned to the starting line-up in Budapest, and the moment for which he has been years waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just emotional,\u201d Molumby says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bit of relief, and a sense of achievement. A lot of us lads have grown up together underage, a big lot of us that have been together since 17s, 19s, 21s together. So it was an amazing campaign with all your friends; it was great to do that together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"jayson-molumby-and-heimir-hallgrimsson-dejected-after-the-game\"
\n Heimir Hallgrimsson consoles Molumby after October’s defeat away to Portugal. Ryan Byrne \/ INPHO<\/p>\n

Ryan Byrne \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n

Whether Ireland\u2019s win over Hungary is one brick in a path leading to the World Cup remains to be seen, but that doesn\u2019t mean all of its legacies are provisional: it has provided a long-awaited and much-needed fillip in feeling for the players themselves, which will be vital this month and beyond.<\/p>\n

Molumby\u2019s first memory of November, by the way, is the same as yours: Troy Parrott\u2019s winner and the mad, delirious dash in his wake. \u201cHe\u2019s always had a good head on his shoulders,\u201d says Molumby, \u201cand I\u2019m really happy for him to see him doing so well at club level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Parrott\u2019s importance in Prague is obvious, Molumby will play a vital role, too, especially with Josh Cullen absent because of an ACL injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA massive, massive loss,\u201d says Molumby of his midfield partner, whom he describes as a \u201ccalming influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Cullen has not been omitted from an Ireland team for which he has been available since the very early days of Stephen Kenny\u2019s reign, Molumby was left out of the Irish squad as recently as September, left to watch that wretched night in Yerevan on TV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was such a kick in the teeth,\u201d says Molumby. \u201cI care so much about playing for Ireland: it is a massive deal for me and my family. So when I got the call-up for the next camp I was buzzing again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I take it for granted, but maybe that was a really good thing for me, as it makes you realise how important it is. When I got called back in all my family were booking flights, because you can\u2019t take it for granted. They know it\u2019s precious, and you never know when you\u2019re in or out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expect Molumby to be in for Prague, and likely deputising for rather than merely partnering Cullen. Professional life has not been easy since Budapest, though, with West Brom in a tailspin of results which has sent them careening into the Championship relegation zone. They have won just three of their 22 league games played since, and have yet to win a league game in 2026, a run during which they\u2019ve sacked two managers.<\/p>\n

They are second-from-bottom as it stands, albeit a single point from safety. With things this tight, Molumby\u2019s goal in the midweek draw against Southampton was vital. Hallgrimsson watched that game on TV, having attended West Brom\u2019s 1-1 draw against Sheffield United a few days earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"birmingham-england-march-11-jayson-molumby-of-west-bromwich-albion-celebrates-scoring-his-teams-first-goal-to-make-the-score-1-0-during-the-efl-championship-match-between-west-bromwich-albion-an\"
\n Molumby celebrates his goal against Southampton. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been the toughest stage of my career since I\u2019ve been at West Brom,\u201d says Molumby. \u201cWe have a young group here which is even tougher for them. A lot of us here are experienced enough to know that you can\u2019t get too high and can\u2019t get too low, and I feel I\u2019ve been doing okay with that and haven\u2019t been getting too low on myself, and just trying to crack on and doing my best.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The brutal cut and thrust of a relegation scrap in the Championship has pushed thoughts of the World Cup to the back of Molumby\u2019s mind, but every so often, he can\u2019t help but draw it out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only natural to dream about those things\u201d, he says. \u201cTo represent your country at a World Cup is the pinnacle of everything. But from experience, if you look too far ahead in football, it\u2019s never a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to look after yourself, fitness-wise, and take it day by day, as that is the only thing you can control.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gavin Cooney THE JOURNEY TO these giddy days of Czechia, Budapest, and the Troy Parrott International Airport has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[90217,61,60,93123,43,3404],"class_list":["post-345532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jayson-molumby","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}