Moylan aiming to shine for club and country

Cardiff City summer signing Jack Moylan has had an eventful start to his international footballing career.

The 24-year-old attacking midfielder scored a superb 22-minute hat-trick during his first outing with Republic of Ireland in May only to be sent off the following week.

"I've definitely had a rollercoaster of a two games with them," Moylan said following his move from Lincoln City.

"I scored a hat-trick on my debut [a 5-0 win against Grenada] and then got sent off against Qatar in the second game."

Moylan has also had a memorable start to life as a Bluebird, scoring the winner in Cardiff's 3-2 Carabao Cup first round win against Swindon.

Now, after settling into life in the Welsh capital, Moylan will be looking to hit the ground running for club and country, with Cardiff kicking off their Championship campaign in a Welsh derby against Wrexham on Monday (20:00 BST).

With a bumper crowd expected at Cardiff City Stadium, Moylan believes it is probably the biggest game he has played in.

"I'm just trying to think back. I don't think there's anything else, but it's just what football is about, isn't it?

"You get out of bed in the morning to play games like these.

"It's a great game to settle into and you don't want to be anywhere else in the country this weekend."

Moylan said Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy was one of the attractions of joining the club.

"The name's quite famous in Ireland. His dad's a famous sportsman there," he said.

"I've always known of his name and watched his teams. I've had friends play under him. When I found out about the move, I asked a few people and I don't think anybody could speak highly enough of him.

"He was absolutely brilliant. Everybody spoke so fondly of him and told me how good he was. When you hear from countless people, it's definitely a good sign."

Republic of Ireland return to action in the Nations League in September, with games against Kosovo, Israel and Austria, and Moylan is keen to be involved once more.

"I'm an extremely proud Irishman. I want to play for my country as much as possible," he said.

The Republic of Ireland have failed to qualify for a major tournament since Euro 2016, but Moylan believes Icelandic coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is the right man for the job.

"In Ireland the national team is so well supported, they've had a tough last 10 years, it's been a bit up and down," Moylan said.

"But it's definitely on the right track with the manager that they have now, we're doing really well.

"One of my targets is to play as many games for Cardiff before that and make sure that I'm in that team in September."