CORK TEENAGER ADAM O’Reilly has signed his first professional contract with Preston North End, putting pen to paper on a deal until the summer of 2021 with the Championship club.
The Ireland youth international moved to Deepdale from Ringmahon Rangers in 2017, and recently made his Preston first-team debut in a league fixture against Aston Villa over Christmas.
O’Reilly, 17, is captain of Preston’s youth team and scored the opening goal in the club’s FA Youth Cup win over Norwich City earlier this week.
“I am over the moon. This is what I have been working toward since I was five or six-years-old,” he said.
“To finally get that day where I can put pen to paper is an unbelievable feeling and I am delighted to do it.”
O’Reilly, whose father Kieran was a League of Ireland First Division winner with Cobh Ramblers in 2007, was a member of the Ireland U17 squad who reached the European Championship quarter-finals earlier this year.
He added: “A memorable thing for me is being able to share it with my mum and dad, who have helped me to get this stage.
“My dad is a coach and he has been helping me since I was young and they are both very proud and I want to thank them for that.”
Just over a week out from the 2019 Six Nations openers, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey are joined by Bernard Jackman to look at Ireland’s bid for another Grand Slam:
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