Preston sought opinion of Republic of Ireland coaches before signing Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle

It's official, Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle are now Preston North End players.

Two of the stars of Dundalk's European odyssey and back-to-back Airtricity League campaigns have signed on the dotted line with the hometown club of Irish legends Kevin Kilbane and Mark Lawrenson. They will join Aiden McGeady at the Championship club in January as the club look to push on from 12th in the table and challenge for a play-off spot. It is a big, if predictable, loss for the Lilywhites, as it follows on from the transfer of Richie Towell to Brighton this time last year. Preston boss Simon Grayson told the club website that he sought the opinion of Ireland coach Steve Guppy before signing 24-year-old attacker Horgan and centre-half Boyle (25).

“First and foremost we have signed two players who have attracted a lot of interest from a lot of clubs over the past few weeks and months and we have had to work hard to get them, which shows our intent as a football club. “Both players have had great seasons in their league and in Europe, leading to their call ups for the Irish squad. They are young, hungry and looking to improve and will be excellent acquisitions for us. “I spoke to Steve Guppy [Republic of Ireland coach] about both of them, who was very positive and we have watched them a number of times and they have been excellent at club level and handled the Europa League games very well."

Former Leeds manager Grayson was full of praise for the duo, who were called into Martin O'Neill's most recent international squad. “Daryl is a forward thinking player with a lot of goals. He makes things happen, has got a bit of pace about him, has a good delivery in him and he has scored a lot of goals this season. “Andy is a good centre half, who can also handle the ball and both have shown their determination to join us by coming over a couple of times to meet us and got things done very quickly. They both have the desire to keep improving and joining a Championship club is the next progression for them – we have always tried to improve and we look forward to working with them.”