Preston North End midfielder Adam O’Reilly has decided to sign for Derry City and has already joined up with them in Spain.
That’s according to the Irish Independent, who claim that O’Reilly has agreed a two-year deal with Derry.
Ruaidhri Higgins’ side made a ‘strong pitch’ to secure O’Reilly and now appear to have won the race for his signature.
The report even claims that O’Reilly has linked up with Derry at their training camp in Spain with an official announcement surely not far away.
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Echo Live in Ireland add that Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick’s Athletic and Dundalk were all interested in signing O’Reilly.
They also noted this week that teams in Scotland as well as England’s League One and League Two were all keen on O’Reilly.
That makes this deal a major coup for Derry and O’Reilly will now look to play regular first-team football back in Ireland.
O’Reilly, 21, joined PNE from Ringmahon Rangers in 2016, the same club that set Alan Browne on his path to North End.
There were hopes that O’Reilly would follow in Browne’s footsteps but it just hasn’t happened.
O’Reilly has only been given one first-team appearance at North End and that came back in December 2018.
Loans to Hyde United, Stalybridge Celtic, Bamber Bridge, Watford, Stalybridge again and St Patrick’s Athletic haven’t really taken O’Reilly closer to first-team action.
Ryan Lowe has given O’Reilly permission to move on ahead of his contract expiring this summer and he has chosen a move back to Ireland.
O’Reilly excelled in his last loan spell with St Pat’s and we would expect him to shine for Derry moving forward.
We wouldn’t be at all surprised to see O’Reilly develop and earn a move back to England one day, but for now it’s all about settling down and playing after a frustrating few years with PNE.