Defender Ian Mylod is into his second season at League of Ireland First Division side Cobh Ramblers, and he has become a vital player for Stephen Henderson’s side as they chase the one and only Promotion spot to the Premier Division.
He was ever-present in Hendo’s side last season, as they just failed to reach the Promotion/Relegation play-off final, after a late season run.
“Personally I am loving life in Cobh at the moment. There is a good group of lads here and we are playing under a manger that likes to play attacking football.”
“I am also very fortunate to have my younger brother Adam here at the club with me. There is great work being done in the back ground at the club and that can be seen through the performances the squad are showing on the field.”
“We are not in the league to make up the numbers anymore. We want to go and challenge and I feel we have shown that through getting to a play off last season, the quarter final of the FAI cup, and also through some of our performances so far this season.”
“I played for the club at underage level before a spell at Cork City U-19s and then UCC for 3 years. While I really ‘enjoyed playing for the college, winning a collingwood cup and meeting some great people like John McCarthy, Kieran Nester and John Nevile, I did not really play as much as I would have liked to for the club. In my last season for the college, I finished the clubs top scorer but only played a handful of games.”
He tells us that he was close to calling it a day on the football field, “I went away traveling that summer of 2015 and thought about walking away from the game completely. While I was away, Jason Abbot, a very close friend of mine who I played with at UCC and now at Cobh, was at Cobh at the time and told me Stephen Henderson was interested in me coming down.”
“It was a bit of a pity that I was in America at the time, but when I came home I went down and trained with the lads, before I eventually signed for the 2016 season. Since I’ve signed I feel I have gotten my confidence back and am really starting to enjoy my football again.”
Mylod is full of praise for Ramblers boss Stephen Henderson,”That is largely down to the Hendo and the trust he has placed in me. Often in football you can get managers who are quite distant from the players, but Hendo is the opposite to that.”
“He is very interactive and involved with the players in the dressing room. He is the first to put his arm around you after a disappointing result and the first to slag you off on social media or around the club over a dodgy hair cut or outfit. While he more than others is liable to a dodgy outfit, it is great to have a manger that shows such compassion and interest in his players. He has placed massive faith in youth here at Ramblers.”
Here’s one of the many tweets between them;
On his life apart from football Mylod said, “I have recently finished a masters in education in UCC and have started a new job as a secondary school teacher in a girls school in Cork City teaching business studies and economics.”
“I am really enjoying balancing teaching and football. It is important nowadays to have something outside of the game to keep you going. That can be seen through the likes of Conan Byrne who is teaching and playing for St Pats up in Dublin. My school is very understanding of me playing league of Ireland football, and likewise the club are very understanding of me teaching.”
“There has been games where I might not have been able to make the team bus for away games due to being in school but Shane Kavanagh, the goalkeeping coach here in Ramblers has been very good and looked after me bringing me to games.”
After Friday night’s tough defeat to Waterford in the RSC the young defender said, whilst disappointed, knows that the team are going places, “Yeah look we are very disappointed with taking nothing from the game Friday, especially after dominating for so long and to concede so late.”
“I thought we played very well and were unlucky to come away with nothing. We knew it was always going to be difficult playing one of the favourites to win the league in a great side like Waterford on their home turf, but we never feared them going into the game. We know as a squad that on our day we can match anyone in the league and I feel Friday night we showed that.”
“Hendo always refers to this mentality that Cork people have that we never give up and will fight for everything, and as a squad we really show this. I felt we went at Waterford from the start and brought the game to them. Matthew Wheelan worked very hard up top battling for every ball we put up there, Cian Coleman dominated the middle of the park while James McSweeny at the back who’s only 17, managed to keep one of the best strikers in the country in Mark O Sullivan quiet. That’s something that no one in the premier division or even Europe could achieve over the last two or three seasons.”
“While we were disappointed in the manner we conceded the first goal, we did not let this affect us. We started to grow more and more in confidence as the game went on. When we brought it back to 1-1, I felt we rocked Waterford. There was a spell of about 15-20minutes that we could have scored another one or two. We had a great appeal for a penalty that was dismissed, while Matthew, Karl Caulfield and Kyle McCarthy had a few great chances to put us into the lead.”
“I don’t think there was much we could have done about the second Waterford goal. It was a great ball into the box from Garry Comerford, and a good finish from Patrick McClean. While we are very disappointed with taking nothing from the game, I feel we can learn a lot from it while also take a lot of positives. We are a young squad, who are constantly looking to learn and improve, and we are under the guidance of the right man for that in Stephen Henderson.”
He was also full of praise for the loyal band of travelling Cobh fans, “Credit must go to the Cobh fans that made the journey down to Waterford on Friday night. They sang from start to finish and made the RSC almost like a home venue. They give the players a boost and an extra stride in their step through the noise they make in the stands.”
“While we were disappointed with the result on Friday night, I feel there is a lot we can learn and take from the game. We are an extremely young squad and after matching some of the best players in the country like Patrick McClean and Shane O’Connor, Friday night can only stand to us.”
“We need to dust ourselves down quickly and get back to business as we have other big games coming up.”
“It’s important to only take each games as it comes in this league as if you look too far ahead you can get complacent and drop points. The results in the first division this year have shown that as each team has taken points from one another. If we can train hard each week and focus on the game ahead of us, who knows where we will be at the end of the season.”
Cobh boss Stephen Henderson said of the 23 year-old left-back, “Ian has been great for Ramblers since he came to the club. His attitude, work ethic and professionalism is second to none. His pace and willingness to help his team mates means we can play him anywhere and he will do a solid job for us which is really important for us with a small squad.”
Continuing the banter between himself and Mylod Hendo added”He has been down lately because since his brother came to the club we have seen that Adam is the one with the natural talent. He has such a better dress sense and has an up to date hairstyle that puts poor Ian’s Afro to shame. But we try not to mention that much to him to keep his spirits up.”