Kenny’s Kids | Player Profile: Jayson Molumby
In the second entry of a new series profiling the Republic of Ireland’s rising players to watch out for, Kenny’s Kids takes a look at Brighton midfielder and Republic of Ireland U21 captain Jayson Molumby.
Jayson Molumby was born in Cappoquin, Waterford. He played youth football with Railway Athletic (Cappoquin) and Villa FC (Waterford City) before signing for Brighton in 2015.
Jayson settled in well & was regularly playing alongside Irish teammates such as Aaron Connolly, Dan Mandroiu, Thomas Byrne, Rian O'Sullivan, Harry Doherty and more. The 2016/17 season saw him play in the semi-final of the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup along with the quarter final of the EFL Trophy.
He also was lining out for Ireland from an early age, earning an U15 call up in the 2013/14 season. By 2017, Jayson was capped to under 19 level for Ireland, had been given U16 International Player of the Year (2015) and was nominated for U17 Player of the Year (2016).
In August 2017, manager Chris Hughton decided to hand Molumby his senior debut against Barnet in the EFL Cup and he did not disappoint, setting up Liam Rosenior who's attempt was parried towards James Tilley who slotted home the winner.
He then played 120 minutes in the next round against Bournemouth and made the Brighton bench in the Premier League. Unfortunately, he then suffered a massive setback with a knee injury, where complications and operations meant that he was out for 15 months in total.
It is difficult to fathom the pressures an 18-year-old goes through when they go from a potential Premier League debut to 15 months of rehab, recovery and setbacks.
The Ireland U19 captain persevered and returned from injury in time to make his debut as captain of Stephen Kenny's first U21 side. Both debutantes came out unscathed in the 3-0 victory against Luxembourg.
Jayson Molumby hasn’t been talked about enough pic.twitter.com/8L4oYqIhYA — ryan (@bhafcryan) April 24, 2020
Jayson took this momentum into the Toulon tournament last summer, helping Ireland to a fourth place finish and being named in the top four best players for the whole tournament. Brighton then decided to send Molumby out on loan to Championship side Millwall, linking up with Irish players such as Shaun Williams, Aiden O'Brien and Alex Pearce.
33 appearances later, Molumby is held in high regard at The Den. Manager Gary Rowett admitted that he had attempted to sign Jayson on a permanent deal before he signed a new deal with Brighton until 2023.
“He has done so well that Brighton have wanted to re-sign him. He was a player we were hoping they maybe didn’t see as playing first-team football for them soon and that he might be one we potentially tried to buy,” Rowett explained.
Millwall are now just two points off the play offs and Kenny's Ireland U21s are top of their European qualifying group. Difficult to predict what club the 20-year-old will be playing for next season but you can be sure his work rate, passing play and box-to-box mentality will be entertaining Irish fans for years to come.
2019/20 Championship stats:
Started: 27 (29 Total)
Assists: 1
Goal: 1 (Not official but if you ask me he was robbed)
Passing Accuracy: 83.5%
Passes PG: 37.6
Key Passes PG: 0.5
Health is most definetley the priority but cannot wait to get back on a football pitch 🤞🏽⚽️ pic.twitter.com/jpzLGkJUTe — Jayson Molumby (@jay_molumby15) May 2, 2020
Tackles PG: 1.4
Highlights Reel:
16 minute hat-trick v Cyrus U19 - https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/916735680298004481 / https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/916731753305460741
Highlights v Bournemouth & Barnet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VGgh5iKDoc
Interview v Toulon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gw2rUVWMxQ
Free-kick v Italy U21 - https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/1182398874033545217
Making the goal v Brentford - https://twitter.com/MillwallFC/status/1211606634675474432
Skill v Reading - https://twitter.com/MillwallFC/status/1219191722695102464
The Robbed Goal v Nottingham Forest - https://twitter.com/SkyFootball/status/1236023527993679874
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