CORK footballer Adam O'Reilly has committed to a loan spell with St Patrick’s Athletic in the League of Ireland Premier Division.

The move was finalised on Thursday, and the Preston North End midfielder will link up with new Saints boss Tim Clancy.

This will be O’Reilly’s second loan spell in the League of Ireland. 

𝙊'𝙍𝙀𝙄𝙇𝙇𝙔 𝙅𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙎 𝙊𝙉 𝙇𝙊𝘼𝙉

We are very happy to welcome @adam_o_reilly on loan from @pnefc

The midfielder made his professional debut for Preston in December 2018 at the age of 17 & spent some of last season in the LOI on loan at Waterford#StPatsFC #Saints2022 pic.twitter.com/5oQ5ZNYF11

— St Patrick's Athletic FC (@stpatsfc) January 20, 2022

Last year he joined Waterford for the first half of the season, and he was coached by former Republic of Ireland winger Kevin Sheedy.

O'Reilly has slowly been establishing himself at Deepdale since he joined their academy in December 2016 after impressing on a trial. 

The midfielder settled straight into life in England, as he helped the club reach the Lancashire FA Youth Cup final in his first full season with the club’s academy. That same year, O’Reilly won Preston's Scholar of the Year award.

The midfielder’s performances at underage level earned him a place on the first team’s substitute's bench for a Championship match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

In December 2018, during a league game against Aston Villa, O’Reilly came off the bench and replaced Graham Burke for his senior debut.

Over the last three years, the midfielder has played for Hyde United, Stalybridge Celtic, and Bamber Bridge on loan.

Preston manager Ryan Lowe has recently said that the young players in his squad need to impress on loan if they are to break into the first team at Deepdale.

"I have had a chat with Jack Baxter, Adam O'Reilly, Joe (Rodwell-Grant) and young Lewis (Leigh) - he probably won't go just yet - and Ethan Walker,” he told LancsLive.

"We want to be all in it together; if the kids are good enough they are good enough, but ultimately they will get opportunities to showcase on a daily basis in training or in games.

"The lads that'll potentially go out on loan, they need to go out now and show us what they've got so I can have a think about (what happens at) the end of the season."

"The youngsters have gone back down to the Academy to be called upon when needed, just because the numbers were too big and there are one or two who'll find themselves out on loan in the next few days."

O’Reilly will be working under Tim Clancy, who replaced Stephen O’Donnell at Richmond Park last month. He is building an exciting team in Inchacore, who will be hoping to build off last season’s FAI Cup victory.

A statement of their drive was the signing of striker Eoin Doyle from Bolton Wanderers in England. The forward has scored 160 goals in almost 500 senior appearances, and he is now tasked with leading a title charge at Richmond Park.