A talented Mullingar teenager has made it through to X Factor bootcamp after beating off thousands of other Irish hopefuls at auditions in Croke Park.

Sixteen-year-old Niall Horan from Ardleigh got a resounding "Yes, you're through!" from X-Factor judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and guest judge Katy Perry last week when he sang for them at the world class Convention Centre in Dublin.

The Colaiste Mhuire student queued up among ten thousand other hopefuls at Croke Park in May for the fist round of auditions and received a call-back to auditions the following day. He then completed two more auditions where he was filmed by a tv crew and interviewed by X Factor host Dermot O'Leary.

It wasn't till four weeks later however, when Niall was holidaying in Spain that he learned of the final call back - to perform in front of THE judging panel of Simon, Louis, Cheryl and Katy Perry, which took place on Monday last week.

A family friend has described Niall's entry into boot-camp as "fantastic", saying everyone was very proud of the young singer, who turns seventeen in September.

Niall previously supported another X Factor contestant, Lloyd Daniels at The Academy in Dublin, and has performed at the Mullingar Arts Centre as part of Mullingar Shamrocks 'Star's in your Eyes' fundraising night.

It's four years since the X Factor crew last visited Dublin, but supposedly because of the success of Jedward in last year's competition, producers decided to audition in Ireland once again.