Jayson Molumby is going to be a hell of a player. Captain of the Irish U21 side, he has as bright a future ahead of him as any other member of that squad, including the likes of Troy Parrott and Adam Idah.
He looks to be the type of midfielder that the senior team are sorely lacking at the minute. To put it simply, Molumby can do everything you would want from a modern player in the middle third: he can tackle, is mobile, is excellent on the ball, and as we saw last night, can take a chance when it comes his way.
Although this strike was later accredited to Matt Smith after it took the slightest of touches off the forward on its way into the net, the Irishman showed great instincts to get onto the end of the loose ball. He is certainly claiming the goal as his own.
Don’t care taking it first professional goal great win 😅🕺🏼🕺🏼 @MillwallFC https://t.co/ylqG4Q41Ea
— Jayson Molumby (@jay_molumby15) March 6, 2020
Despite only being on loan at Millwall since the start of the season, he has already established himself as a firm favourite at The Den.
Molumby is going to the very top I’m telling you.
— Mark. (@MLong94) March 6, 2020
He was phenomenal last night, and it was far from the first time this season that that has been the case. The case for drafting him straight into the Ireland team is getting stronger on a game-by-game basis.
Mick McCarthy has yet to pick him in one of his squads. Not only that, he has repeatedly batted away suggestions that Molumby should be included.
The Ireland manager has made it clear that he is incredibly unlikely to throw any new players into the mix for the play-off against Slovakia. However, as has become a theme during his second stint in charge, McCarthy's stubbornness could end up costing the team.
There is no Irish midfielder who is currently in better form than Jayson Molumby. At 20-years old, he is playing 90 minutes every weekend in the Championship. He is operating on a different stratosphere to some players who have been automatic selections up to this point in the campaign.
You can't tell us that there are four or five central midfielders more deserving of a place in the squad. Not a chance.
There is no logical reason for Molumby not to make the trip to Bratislava. McCarthy's reasoning is that he hasn't been there before, but wouldn't you rather have a relatively inexperienced player in excellent form than one who has no shortage of caps but is out of sorts?
Unfortunately, we already know Mick McCarthy's answer to that question. Speaking last month, he said that just because the player was performing well at club level does not mean he deserves to be in the Ireland squad:
Jayson Molumby, I saw him play yesterday, Jason Knight I've watched, the lads are doing well. Dara O'Shea scored yesterday.
They're all doing well, but don't think for one second that because they're doing well in the Championship they're going to come in and play against Slovakia. That's not the case.
McCarthy's inconsistent policy surrounding this issue has rubbed plenty of people up the wrong way. He consistently preaches a mantra of the importance of consistent playing time at a high level, but has ignored this policy when it suits.
He repeatedly rules out the prospect of drafting in the likes of Troy Parrott and Adam Idah due to their lack of first team action, but in the next breath says the likes of Molumby and Dara O'Shea still have little chance despite performing very well in the Championship.
It certainly seems that it's one rule for some and another for others.
The case to include Molumby is now simply too strong to ignore. He has to go to Slovakia, and he probably should start. However, we have our doubts that either of those scenarios will come to fruition.
