A CHAT WITH Jack Moylan is a bit like watching him play football.
Sharp, clever, enjoyable, and with a relaxed kind of purpose that complements his intense determination.
By the end, you are still desperate for more. Not to mention the odd twist and turn to keep you on your toes.
“I hate all this, ‘Ah yeah, we’ll take it one game at time and see how it goes’. No. I want to get promoted,” he says.
“I’m not hiding away from that. I want to be in the Championship next season with Lincoln.”
Straight in, no kissin’.
“I’d be constantly thinking about us winning the league or us getting promoted. When we have a match, all I am thinking about is that we are going to win and I will help the team by scoring. I want to be man of the match, that is what I am thinking.”
Moylan spoke to The 42 on Wednesday afternoon. The following evening, he scored twice in a 2-1 win over Burton Albion. It’s a result that keeps Lincoln in League One’s second automatic promotion place. They are three points behind league leaders Cardiff City and six ahead of Bradford City – who they face on Tuesday – in the play-off positions.
The midweek victory also saw an attendance of 9,514 to make it the largest home crowd of the season for Lincoln.
Since the Dubliner’s return from an ankle injury in late November, Lincoln have won seven, drawn three, and lost just one of their last 11 league games. They’re unbeaten in 10.
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Moylan does a fine job of distilling his attitude to forging a life for himself in England after he left Shelbourne in 2023.
“You don’t want to be [seen as] just a young lad, ‘Ah, he’s from the League of Ireland so we’ll give him a run out’. You want to come in and be the main man, take the shirt off someone else and say, ‘Look, I’m here to stay, I’m not going anywhere else’. That was probably the way I looked at it. I was coming in and I was never going back.”
Moylan’s ambition and focus are as resolute as his love of the game. He’s only 24 but has already started on his coaching journey by earning Kick Start 1 and 2 qualifications through the FAI, with plans to get his C and B Licence.
Lincoln supporters have also come to realise what makes him stand out over the last two seasons, and those surprised that this creative midfielder/forward was handed a four-year contract – with the club holding an option to add a fifth – are no longer wondering why such faith was shown in him.
Moylan has captured the imagination. Lincoln boss Michael Skubala hailed him as his side’s “magic man” after Thursday’s win. Damien Duff said pretty much the exact same thing about him during their time together at Tolka Park.
The former Shels boss was at the end of a four-day session with friends in New York and Boston when he sat at a bar by himself watching clips of Moylan play for Wexford in the League of Ireland First Division.
That is when he decided he needed his “magic” as a catalyst for his Shelbourne revolution. The pair have stayed in touch. After his debut with Lincoln, Duff was on the phone. After his first goal, Duff was on the phone.
And after surgery on both of his ankles, Duff was on the phone. He also clipped up numerous bits of footage for his protégé to study during the 12-week recovery process from each operation.
“He probably nailed it into me the fact that life’s not fair, you will have to deal with things like this, and you’ve just got to get on with it and get over it. It’s only you. Nobody’s going to do it for you.
“You’ve just got to get back on the fucking horse and get over it,” Moylan says of his injuries. “Yeah, it’s brutal. But look, it happens to everybody. He said it was a chance to learn and improve.”
The first surgery followed a freak accident while running during a game; the second came early into this season after a late – and high – tackle. He was sent a photo of the challenge and still has it on his phone.
Moylan now spends time before every training session doing strengthening work on his calves and ankles. An early game against Stevenage also highlighted how much he had to do to bring his body up to speed.
“I was standing in the tunnel and every one of their players looked like monsters.”
He’s now 79 kilograms after working to gain muscle mass. He checked a chart from his last season at Shels and he was at 72kg. The first two weeks of pre-season are now the only time of the year he is not following a dedicated conditioning plan.
“If Duffer ever reads this, he’ll be laughing at me because he used to give out to me that I couldn’t play on Friday and Monday in Ireland because my body wasn’t good enough or developed enough,” Moylan says.
“Now I can do it constantly. There’s a lot of players, ability-wise in Ireland, that can play in League One. But then it’s just the physicality, the mentality, to have the bollocks to be able to play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday. To not come home at Christmas, to be away from your family at times like that when you are young. That’s probably the hard stuff.”
Moylan begins to explain the make-up of the team’s 25-man squad, how none of the players are from Lincoln and, much like one of England’s best university cities, it has brought people from all different backgrounds together for the same cause.
“I didn’t think I would get a better dressing room than the one at Shels,” he says. “When I was injured, lads would bring me training, they would take me food, they’d come over and keep me company. I wasn’t forgotten. That can be 80% of the game, especially in League One, having boys that will be together and do more for each other on the pitch…”
Before he can finish his sentence he blurts out that he has just seen Josh Honohan leave his apartment in the complex where several of the players live. The Cork native has just arrived from Shamrock Rovers and Moylan is excited.
“Oi,” Moylan shouts across to get Honohan’s attention.
“Ah, I’ll give him credit where it’s due,” Honohan continues. “He is a big help with settling in.”
Moylan knows that feeling. When he first arrived, there were six Irish players at the club. He shared a flat with two of them before Dylan Duffy left for Chesterfield and Sean Roughan got a move to Huddersfield Town.
His girlfriend, Amy, was then able to move over from Dublin and continue working remotely. “It makes such a difference to have her here, to be with her and be able to come home and spend time with someone you have that connection with,” Moylan says.
That connection to home is deep. He wants to play for Ireland and has no problem stating that ambition. He is a former season ticket holder at Aviva Stadium and when he first met teammate James Collins at Lincoln, he took the striker aback by describing the goal he scored against Bulgaria on his international debut in September 2019.
Three of Moylan’s best mates were also in the away end for the 3-2 win over Hungary in Budapest last November. They asked him to get involved in the trip but it was the final week of his rehabilitation from that ankle injury so he decided against it.
One of many small sacrifices that are part of a much bigger picture.
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The Irish star producing magic for one of English football's unlikeliest promotion charges
A CHAT WITH Jack Moylan is a bit like watching him play football.
Sharp, clever, enjoyable, and with a relaxed kind of purpose that complements his intense determination.
By the end, you are still desperate for more. Not to mention the odd twist and turn to keep you on your toes.
“I hate all this, ‘Ah yeah, we’ll take it one game at time and see how it goes’. No. I want to get promoted,” he says.
“I’m not hiding away from that. I want to be in the Championship next season with Lincoln.”
Straight in, no kissin’.
“I’d be constantly thinking about us winning the league or us getting promoted. When we have a match, all I am thinking about is that we are going to win and I will help the team by scoring. I want to be man of the match, that is what I am thinking.”
Somewhere, a media training guru weeps.
Of course, it helps when you back it up.
Moylan spoke to The 42 on Wednesday afternoon. The following evening, he scored twice in a 2-1 win over Burton Albion. It’s a result that keeps Lincoln in League One’s second automatic promotion place. They are three points behind league leaders Cardiff City and six ahead of Bradford City – who they face on Tuesday – in the play-off positions.
The midweek victory also saw an attendance of 9,514 to make it the largest home crowd of the season for Lincoln.
Since the Dubliner’s return from an ankle injury in late November, Lincoln have won seven, drawn three, and lost just one of their last 11 league games. They’re unbeaten in 10.
Moylan does a fine job of distilling his attitude to forging a life for himself in England after he left Shelbourne in 2023.
“You don’t want to be [seen as] just a young lad, ‘Ah, he’s from the League of Ireland so we’ll give him a run out’. You want to come in and be the main man, take the shirt off someone else and say, ‘Look, I’m here to stay, I’m not going anywhere else’. That was probably the way I looked at it. I was coming in and I was never going back.”
Moylan’s ambition and focus are as resolute as his love of the game. He’s only 24 but has already started on his coaching journey by earning Kick Start 1 and 2 qualifications through the FAI, with plans to get his C and B Licence.
Lincoln supporters have also come to realise what makes him stand out over the last two seasons, and those surprised that this creative midfielder/forward was handed a four-year contract – with the club holding an option to add a fifth – are no longer wondering why such faith was shown in him.
Moylan has captured the imagination. Lincoln boss Michael Skubala hailed him as his side’s “magic man” after Thursday’s win. Damien Duff said pretty much the exact same thing about him during their time together at Tolka Park.
The former Shels boss was at the end of a four-day session with friends in New York and Boston when he sat at a bar by himself watching clips of Moylan play for Wexford in the League of Ireland First Division.
That is when he decided he needed his “magic” as a catalyst for his Shelbourne revolution. The pair have stayed in touch. After his debut with Lincoln, Duff was on the phone. After his first goal, Duff was on the phone.
And after surgery on both of his ankles, Duff was on the phone. He also clipped up numerous bits of footage for his protégé to study during the 12-week recovery process from each operation.
“He probably nailed it into me the fact that life’s not fair, you will have to deal with things like this, and you’ve just got to get on with it and get over it. It’s only you. Nobody’s going to do it for you.
“You’ve just got to get back on the fucking horse and get over it,” Moylan says of his injuries. “Yeah, it’s brutal. But look, it happens to everybody. He said it was a chance to learn and improve.”
The first surgery followed a freak accident while running during a game; the second came early into this season after a late – and high – tackle. He was sent a photo of the challenge and still has it on his phone.
Moylan now spends time before every training session doing strengthening work on his calves and ankles. An early game against Stevenage also highlighted how much he had to do to bring his body up to speed.
“I was standing in the tunnel and every one of their players looked like monsters.”
He’s now 79 kilograms after working to gain muscle mass. He checked a chart from his last season at Shels and he was at 72kg. The first two weeks of pre-season are now the only time of the year he is not following a dedicated conditioning plan.
“If Duffer ever reads this, he’ll be laughing at me because he used to give out to me that I couldn’t play on Friday and Monday in Ireland because my body wasn’t good enough or developed enough,” Moylan says.
“Now I can do it constantly. There’s a lot of players, ability-wise in Ireland, that can play in League One. But then it’s just the physicality, the mentality, to have the bollocks to be able to play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday. To not come home at Christmas, to be away from your family at times like that when you are young. That’s probably the hard stuff.”
Moylan begins to explain the make-up of the team’s 25-man squad, how none of the players are from Lincoln and, much like one of England’s best university cities, it has brought people from all different backgrounds together for the same cause.
“I didn’t think I would get a better dressing room than the one at Shels,” he says. “When I was injured, lads would bring me training, they would take me food, they’d come over and keep me company. I wasn’t forgotten. That can be 80% of the game, especially in League One, having boys that will be together and do more for each other on the pitch…”
Before he can finish his sentence he blurts out that he has just seen Josh Honohan leave his apartment in the complex where several of the players live. The Cork native has just arrived from Shamrock Rovers and Moylan is excited.
“Oi,” Moylan shouts across to get Honohan’s attention.
He puts him on the phone to say hello.
“Who’s this?” Honohan asks, understandably confused.
“It’s The 42,” Moylan says.
“Ah, I’ll give him credit where it’s due,” Honohan continues. “He is a big help with settling in.”
Moylan knows that feeling. When he first arrived, there were six Irish players at the club. He shared a flat with two of them before Dylan Duffy left for Chesterfield and Sean Roughan got a move to Huddersfield Town.
His girlfriend, Amy, was then able to move over from Dublin and continue working remotely. “It makes such a difference to have her here, to be with her and be able to come home and spend time with someone you have that connection with,” Moylan says.
That connection to home is deep. He wants to play for Ireland and has no problem stating that ambition. He is a former season ticket holder at Aviva Stadium and when he first met teammate James Collins at Lincoln, he took the striker aback by describing the goal he scored against Bulgaria on his international debut in September 2019.
Three of Moylan’s best mates were also in the away end for the 3-2 win over Hungary in Budapest last November. They asked him to get involved in the trip but it was the final week of his rehabilitation from that ankle injury so he decided against it.
One of many small sacrifices that are part of a much bigger picture.
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Damien Duff Jack Moylan League One lincoln fc On the rise Soccer Shelbourne