REPUBLIC OF IRELAND international Jayson Molumby has revealed that international team-mate Dara O’Shea helped him to settle in at his new club, West Bromwich Albion, by inviting the midfielder to stay at his and his partner’s home for “a good six weeks” upon Molumby’s arrival from Brighton.
The 22-year-old was already friendly with Ireland colleague Callum Robinson, as well as Baggies defender Matt Clarke and goalkeeper David Button with whom he shares a former club, and he has in recent weeks forged a kinship with midfield partner Robert Snodgrass on and off the pitch.
It was O’Shea, however, Molumby’s friend of many years, who especially helped him to acclimatise to life at the Hawthorns — and in the English Midlands generally — when he headed up from the south coast for the season at the end of August.
Molumby, who has caught the eye in his two recent starts for West Brom, says he is now “really enjoying life” at his loan club and that he is “trying to come in every day with a smile on my face.”
“I’m enjoying my football and I feel really settled here already which is a huge help,” added the Waterford man.
“I’m enjoying being around the lads. I think we have a really good group.
I’ve known Dara for about five or six years now and we’re really good mates. He’s been brilliant with me and I was actually living with him and his partner for a good six weeks when I first came here. For them to take me in and make me feel comfortable was unbelievable and I’m really grateful for that. He’s done an awful lot since I’ve been here to make me feel at home.
“It’s a huge help when you join a club and you already know some faces. You can lean on a few of the lads if you ever need anything.
“I’ve got Robbo, Dara, Butts and Clarkey who I already knew so it’s been a huge help for me.
“I’m also very close with Snoddy. We spend a lot of time together outside of football. He’s been brilliant with me on and off the pitch.”
Wholesome content alert. 😍@jay_molumby15 on his friendship with @dara_oshea_, breaking into our XI and Saturday's clash at Fulham 💬
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) October 28, 2021
Molumby has started Albion’s last two Championship matches away to Swansea and at home against Bristol City, both alongside ‘Snoddy’, or Scotland international Robert Snodgrass, with the duo replacing captain Jake Livermore and Alex Mowatt (both currently injured).
And Molumby believes that his time spent out of the team at least allowed him to acclimatise to manager Valérien Ismaël’s demands when his opportunity arose within it.
He will hope to start a third consecutive game when third-placed West Brom travel to second-placed Fulham for a crucial afternoon kick-off in the Championship this Saturday, with just a point currently separating the promotion-chasing sides.
“For me and Snoddy, I think it was a case of having to be patient because the skipper and Alex have done so well in the middle.
“Hopefully we’ve shown what we can do.
“I think I’ve done okay recently. There’s things I need to be better at.
It probably helped me to wait a bit until I played because I was working every day in training, finding out exactly how the gaffer wants us to play as a team and how he wants me to play as an individual.
“I feel like the more I play, the more I’ll get used to the style and the more I’ll understand what’s expected of me.”
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella, and Gavan Casey assess the provinces’ first URC blocks and look ahead to November for the Ireland men’s and women’s teams on The42 Rugby Weekly:
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