Molumby hopes to learn from pre-season bust-up

Molumby is hoping to make his first international appearance of 2024 against England on Saturday

Republic of Ireland midfielder Jayson Molumby says he wants to learn from an incident while playing for West Bromwich Albion in the summer in which he punched an opponent in the face, admitting it is "not something I'm proud of".

Molumby was fined £16,000 and suspended from the club’s next five friendly matches for misconduct after he clashed with Samu Costa during West Brom's behind-closed-doors friendly against Real Mallorca on 27 July.

The 25-year-old said frustration grew while he was sidelined with an injury played its part in the incident.

"It was built up six or seven months before that," said Molumby, speaking ahead of the Republic of Ireland's Nations League game against England in Dublin on Saturday.

"A lot of frustration and anger and obviously I didn't handle myself the best there and was going through a bit of a difficult time.

"It's something I'm not proud of but I'm only human as well. I have emotions and I can only hold my hands up when I'm wrong."

Molumby said he hopes to more effectively channel his competitive energies after revealing that managers have tried to "calm me down" during his career, which has led to a dip in his performances.

Molumby's actions during the West Brom friendly came on the back of a lengthy lay-off caused by a serious foot injury which kept him out of competitive action from early January to the first game of the 2024-25 Championship season last month.

And the former Brighton player admits it was a "nightmare" period in his career as he grappled with the idea of not returning to fitness after a surgical procedure.

"It hits you hard," said Molumby.

"It was a long journey, probably eight months since my last competitive game before the start of the season. For me, it probably built up a lot of frustration and anger in that time. I'm just happy to be back and feeling good now."

When asked if learned a lot about himself during that period, he said: "Definitely. It's an emotional journey when there's nothing you can do and you're just waiting. I wasn't sure I'd be back because the injury I had was quite a bad one. Thankfully I got the best surgeon and the club were fantastic to me.

"Any big injury, you don't know how it's going to go, you don't know if it'll heal properly because that's always a risk with surgery. It was a worry but all good now."

'No more excuses'

Molumby's fitness issues forced him to miss the Republic of Ireland's friendly double-headers in March and June, which were overseen by interim head coach John O'Shea.

And the midfielder, who has won 24 caps after being handed his debut by Stephen Kenny in September 2020, is determined to help bring success to the national team alongside the other players blooded by new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson's predecessor.

"There are no more excuses for us," said Molumby, who has helped West Brom start the season strongly, scoring the Baggies' winner against Swansea last weekend.

"We were young lads coming in but we've got the experience now and it's not good enough to say 'ah, we're young'. We're experienced enough so it's time to kick on."