Cork midfielder Adam O’Reilly moves to Derry City from Preston 

FAI Cup winners Derry City have fought off stiff competition from Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick’s Athletic, and Dundalk to win the race to sign Cork footballer Adam O'Reilly from Preston North End.

The midfielder will now move to the Brandywell and work under Ruaidhrí Higgins after agreeing to a two-year deal. It's been a busy few days on the transfer front, with Preston striker and former Turner's Cross favourite Seanie Maguire switching to Coventry City and Carrigaline youngster completing his move from Cork City to Brighton.

O'Reilly will join a talented team in Derry that is expected to challenge Shamrock Rovers for the Premier Division title, a trophy that last went their way in 1997.

The transfer puts an end to a minor saga that saw a host of top clubs in Ireland, and teams in England and Scotland, compete for his signature after Preston announced he was free to find a new place to play football.

PROSPECT

This brings an end to O'Reilly’s stay at Deepdale, which began with a trial in December 2018. He joined the club originally from Ringmahon Rangers, his boyhood club, and quickly established himself as a top prospect at Preston. During his first full season with the academy, he helped them reach the Lancashire FA Youth Cup final, was named in the team of the season and won Preston's Scholar of the Year award.

He followed that up by making a first-team appearance against Aston Villa in December 2019. O’Reilly was then sent on loan to a number of clubs, including Waterford and St Patrick’s Athletic.

His spell at Richmond Park saw him help the club reach the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League, where they narrowly lost out to CSKA Sofia O’Reilly’s biggest individual contribution was scoring a last-minute winner at Oriel Park, a result that went a big way towards St Pats qualifying for Europe for the second successive season.

He will now be tasked with helping Derry compete for a long-awaited league title.

The Candystripes have lifted every trophy in Irish football available to them over the last 26 years with the exception being the Premier Division crown. The closest they got to achieving that was finishing in second place to Cork City and Shelbourne in 2005 and 2006.

Higgins has assembled a talented squad to challenge for the league and it includes Republic of Ireland U21 international Brian Maher and Dundalk legends Michael Duffy and Patrick McEleney.

O’Reilly’s first competitive game is expected to be against Shamrock Rovers on February 10th in the Presidents Cup, the annual curtain raiser where the reigning league champions take on the previous season’s FAI Cup winners.

His move to Derry also continues a trend of Cork footballers at the Brandywell as he follows in the footsteps of Liam Kearney, Greg O'Halloran, and Eric Grimes.