Ireland’s Jack Moylan tipped for the top as he continues to make up for lost time

When he named his squad last week for the upcoming Nations League games against Austria and Kosovo, Heimir Hallgrímsson smiled when he was asked about the form of Jack Moylan for Championship side Cardiff City this season. “It’s been really quick for Jack,” he said, recalling the visit he paid to Lincoln last April to see the Dubliner in action in League One. “In just over a year, I think his stardom has risen.”Now, Moylan (25) might beg to differ about the speed of his ascent. As our Malachy Clerkin wrote back in September, after the Dubliner had scored his fourth goal in as many appearances for Ireland, he’s “a bit like an underground band catching a wave of success after years of slaving away in small venues”. In that sense, then, Moylan is the Nirvana of Irish football (ask your granny). He had no end of admirers on the home front when he went from Malahide United to the Bohemians academy, to Wexford on loan, and on to Shelbourne where he flourished under Damien Duff.READ MOREBut now he’s a headline act in the Championship having moved to Cardiff from Lincoln during the summer. He was 22 by the time Lincoln, then in England’s third tier, came calling, close to three years ago. His fellow Bohemians academy graduate Evan Ferguson, for example, was 16 when he made his debut for Brighton. So, a lateish developer. He’s making up for lost time, though. Only Middlesbrough’s Will Lankshear has scored more goals than him in the Championship this season. Moylan has 10 and three assists in 15 league appearances, and another goal in the League Cup to add to his tally. That’s some form.No midfielder in Opta’s ten highest-rated European leagues has scored more league goals this season than Jack Moylan 🥶Cardiff were 4-1 down at home to Burnley after 62 minutes today and somehow won 5-4. With the form Moylan’s in, the biggest surprise might be that he only… pic.twitter.com/g8OgRf2i48— Reptracker | Conor McEvoy (@reptracker) November 7, 2026 Few men track the progress of Irish players more forensically than Conor McEvoy (@reptracker on X), and by his calculations, Moylan is the highest-scoring midfielder in Opta’s top-10-rated European leagues. This declaration was greeted with a quibble on social media: “Slightly misleading – he starts as a striker in a lot of his games.” The quibble was duly challenged by a Welsh man, who posted: “Only played as a striker in three games all season.”Either way, Moylan is in the form of his life. Four of his goals have come in his last two outings for Cardiff, one game barmier than the other. He scored a hat-trick in the space of 28 minutes against West Ham, only for his side to somehow end up drawing 3-3. And then they did their own Lazarus act against Burnley at the weekend, coming from 4-1 down to win 5-4, Moylan chipping in with a penalty.Ireland's Jack Moylan dispossesses Austria's Phillipp Mwene during last month's UEFA Nations League match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho The Cardiff faithful are besotted. Not just because of the goals, or the quality of them, but for the way he’s playing his football – with a swagger, and with the confidence of a man who’d be entitled to have a chuckle at those who told him he was too small to ever make it. Another lad was told much the same, which calls to mind the tune the Lincoln supporters penned for Moylan:“It’s time you knew about Jack Moylan, he belongs to us, super Jack Moylan.“He puts the ball in from the left or the right, he makes Lionel Messi look shite.”It’s unlikely it’ll ever win a Grammy, but it’s probably still marginally superior to “I wanna watch you ‘cos I love you so much ... your name is super Jack Moylaaaaan”, sung to the air of – checks notes – Alice Cooper’s Poison. No matter, Moylan is a six-footer now, so his career has gone much the same way as his height – upwards. Will Cardiff be able to hold on to him? Lincoln aficionado Jake Tonge had bad news for them when he appeared on the podcast Cardiff City World recently. “Good footballer, but great bloke, an absolutely unbelievable bloke. He’s such a lovable, infectious character. He’s got such a drive to be at the top level. I don’t want to say that Cardiff are a stepping stone for him on the way to greatness, but Jack Moylan is on a crash course for the Premier League. I hope you’re prepared because you’re going to fall in love with him . . . and then you’ll sell him for £30 million to the Premier League.”Come what may. And, need it be said, we lose ourselves way too frequently and hype the bejaysus out of our young fellas when they’re enjoying happy spells. And then write them off when they hit a rut. Let’s just enjoy Jack Moylan and the form he’s producing this weather. When you can make Lionel Messi look like, well, poo, you’re definitely worth a watch.