Republic of Ireland: ‘I’m only human’ – Jayson Molumby hopes to learn from pre-season bust-up

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.”