ADAM O’REILLY IS free to leave Preston North End, the club’s manager Ryan Lowe has said. 

O’Reilly, the 21-year-old from Cork, was called up to the Ireland U21 squad in September after impressing during his loan spell at St Patrick’ Athletic. He made 34 appearances for the Saints this year, scoring twice.  

The midfielder has made only one first team appearance for Preston since he signed in 2018 and has had a series of loan moves. His contract expires in the summer, but the club have told him he can leave in January.  

Lowe admitted that O’Reilly had not had a reasonable chance in the first team at Preston under his management, but said the size of the squad and progress of other young players mean it’s unlikely he get an opportunity at Deepdale. 

“We had a good conversation with Adam,” Lowe told George Hodgson of LancsLive. “He was in last week with his two agents – an English agent and an Irish agent. He has done fantastically well and there is no point him coming back with the group, just to not play any games. So, what we’ve said to Ads, is that we’re giving him the opportunity to venture and find a new challenge and a new club.

“We have given him a little bit of time off over Christmas, because he’s not long finished, so he can spend some time with his family and think about what he really needs to do. After Christmas, if he has not sorted anywhere out, he will come back and train. But, as for now, his agent thinks it’s the best thing for him to go and find a new chapter somewhere.

“What Adam doesn’t want to do is come back into the fold, when we’ve got youngsters now who’ve passed him a bit in the sense that we don’t want to stand in their way. Ads does not need to sit around for six months and not play. He needs to continue the rich vein of form, so in fairness we’ve had to give Adam the license to do that because we feel it will benefit the kid. It’s about helping him go on and achieve his goals.

“We’ll help him as much as we possibly can and put his name around. He’s done fantastically well and I said that to him. Selfishly, I could keep him here and have him around, maybe making the squad or playing Central League games. But, what’s the real point of that? If he can find himself a club, which his agent thinks he will, then it will benefit Adam. We’ll help him, give him some time off after a tough season and if he’s not gotten anywhere sorted then he’ll come back and be around the group.

“I said to Ads that he’s only played one game for Preston North End and is now 20-odd years of age. Is that going to change? He felt that he hadn’t had an opportunity under me and I said ‘you haven’t’ – he went out on loan, other players have come in and taken their opportunities and at the time we were fine. If we’d only had a squad of 16, then Adam would get an opportunity, but with a squad of 20, plus four kids and a ‘keeper in James (Pradic) of 25, there is no room if you know what I mean.” 

Meanwhile, Ally Gilchrist has signed a new contract with Cork City. 

The 27-year-old centre-back who has previously played for Derry City and Shamrock Rovers made 26 league appearances for Cork last season.

He told the club’s website: “I really enjoyed my first year at Cork City; the fans really welcomed me and we had a really enjoyable season. The support we received was something else, and I know that will be even better next season.”