CORK native Harry Nevin will progress on to a professional contract with Preston North End following the end of this season when his scholarship will come to an end.

The young defender joined the Preston academy in 2020 as a first-year scholar after the club monitored his progress and was impressed by his performances with both Cork City and the Republic of Ireland youth sides since 2017.

Nevin joined a long list of Cork players who have made the switch to Preston in recent years, including Graham Cummins, Alan Browne, and Adam O’Reilly while Sean Maguire and Kevin O'Connor also transferred to Deepdale from City.

The former Douglas Hall star has played an important role for the Preston U19s - he is the team’s captain - this year as they have two cup finals to look forward to while they have already clinched the league title.

Nevin will have another year of eligibility with the under-19s while continuing to play for the reserve side but with his pro contract - it is believed to be a two-year deal - set to begin this summer, the 18-year-old has set his sights on catching the eye of first-team manager Ryan Lowe.

"I'm delighted and I just can't wait to take that next step,” Nevin told Preston North End’s official website.

“It's going to be tough, I want to be up there training with the first team and playing regularly in reserve games to try and catch the manager's eye. That's what I'm going to work on in the pre-season.

"I just want to play my own game because I know if I play my own game I will definitely perform and I might even catch his eye and that's what I want.

“If I show him what I can do, I don't see why he can't give me a chance but I'm going to have to keep doing what I'm doing, focus on the game and work hard."

But first, Nevin is looking to finish this current campaign strongly and has targeted further silverware in the weeks ahead.

After sealing the EFL Youth Alliance league title last week, the Preston U19s progressed to the Central League Cup final recently while they are also in the EFL Youth Alliance Cup final.

"We want to try and win everything we can,” Nevin added.

“We've had a brilliant season so I don't see why we can't win them all when we're playing like this and have a team like this, we can win them all.

"There have been games where we've come from behind and in cup games and semi-finals where we've been behind and then come out on top at the end of the game so it just shows how much this team will dig deep to win something."