A Keighley schoolboy's years of hard training have been rewarded with a two-year apprenticeship at a professional football club.

Jake McEneaney, 16, said he was "overwhelmed and delighted" to learn last Thursday that he had been accepted into Burnley Football Club's youth team.

The squad in-cludes 16 to 18-year-old players and is a key stepping stone towards gaining a full contract with the adult side.

Jake, a year 11 pupil at Holy Family Catholic School, has played for Burnley's junior teams since he was ten-years-old and has played football since he was five.

However he said the apprenticeship would be more like a real job, with daily training sessions and the prospect of being closely observed by talent scouts. He said the pressure should have a positive impact on his game.

"It'll make me want to perform better and show that I'm good enough to be there," he added.

He will train at Gawthorpe, which is where Burnley's first team also prepares, and aims to become a fully-fledged professional footballer. His apprenticeship begins in the summer, once he has sat his nine GCSEs.

His intensive training programme will mean he will have to complete his sixth form studies at a college much closer to Burnley.

Jake, who lives in Skipton, said most of his team-mates in the youth squad would be from places such as Burnley, Blackburn and Clitheroe.

"I'm probably further away than any of them," he said. "But my family is very pleased for me and want me to do as well as I can and get a professional contract."

Jake, who plays left back, was first picked for Burnley's junior sides six years ago, after putting in a good performance in a match in Bradford.

Burnley currently competes in the Football League Championship - the second highest division after the Premier League.