Lahinch lucky for Limerick Lotto winner

DAYS of speculation and spoofing came to an end in Lahinch on Wednesday when the winner of Saturday’s Lotto jackpot collected their cheque for more than €6.1 million.

 

The winning ticket was sold in the North Clare resort on Friday and the mystery of the identity of the country’s newest multi-millionaire had gripped the town.

Mischievous business-owners began fueling rumours that a local syndicate had won the prize but the National Lottery confirmed the winning ticket was a €4 quick pick bought in Kennedy’s Centra and that the winner claimed the prize on Wednesday.

“There is a great buzz in Lahinch,” commented Robert Kennedy who, along with his wife Eleanor, owns Kennedy’s Centra.

“This has done more for the shop in the last few days than you could imagine. People are coming in buying Lotto tickets the whole time and are coming up to me and rubbing off my hand, trying to get a bit of luck,” he added.

Mr Kennedy said he did not know who the winner of the €6,158,375 jackpot is but congratulated them on their good fortune.

“Whoever it was, I am delighted for them. Good luck to them, if it is a syndicate or an individual this could make a big difference to a person or family. Everyone was looking at everyone else wondering if it was a local but you know Lahinch, it could have been anyone,” he said.

While the winner wishes to remain anonymous, the National Lottery has confirmed it is a woman from Limerick.

“I am just delighted that we sold the winning ticket. It is great for the shop and it is great for the town. Everyone was having a bit of craic with it this week. We have never sold anything like that before. €6m is a serious amount of money. Lahinch is a small town and this has given it a great boost and it is a great place to be. Maybe this will put it more on the map,” Mr Kennedy said.

This is the largest jackpot-winning ticket to be sold in the county in Lotto history. A total of €48,608,110 in Lotto jackpot prizes has been won in Clare since Lotto began.

Celebrating her win with her husband and daughter at National Lottery headquarters, the lucky winner spoke of her shock and delight when she found out she was the big winner.

“I was listening to the Clare-Limerick match on Clare FM on Sunday. The news came on and they were saying congratulations to the winner of the Lotto ticket sold in Lahinch. Then I realised I hadn’t checked my ticket. I wrote down the numbers and then got my ticket out of my purse. I nearly died when all the numbers matched up. I started shaking, I felt sick.”

The woman spoke of how much the Lotto win means to her and her family. “I’ll have peace of mind now that I can pay off the bills that have been coming through the door. I plan to share the good fortune with family and friends,” she said.

She also talked about the dreams she hopes to fulfil, “I’d love to buy a house by the sea and also a holiday apartment in Spain or Portugal. I’ve always said that if I ever won the Lotto I’d go to Tiffany’s and buy diamonds, so that’s what I’ll do – I’ll book a family holiday to America and make that dream come true,” she concluded.

The identity of the Lotto winner was “exercising the minds of people in Lahinch” since the weekend, according to local hotelier Michael Vaughan.

“The ticket was bought on Friday afternoon so people thought at first it might be someone who was in collecting the pension but then people started speculating that it might have been a visitor to the town. Holiday-home rentals usually go from a Saturday so this led to people say it may have been someone who was staying in a house in the resort,” he commented.

“One thing is for certain, a beady eye was being kept on the roads out of the village to see if people were leaving early in the morning or late at night [for Lotto headquarters],” Mr Vaughan concluded.

Indeed, it was a weekend of windfalls in North Clare because Kevin Moloney from Doolin appeared on Saturday’s Big Money Game television show, winning prizes valued at €26,000.

Mr Moloney won a holiday to Barcelona worth €3,000 and €23,000 cash on the show hosted by Brian Ormond and Pippa O’Connor. He bought the scratch card in Lynch’s Centra, Gort Road, Ennis and was watching the show the previous Saturday night when his name was called out.

Mr Moloney has been married to Mina for 37 years and has three children, Martina, Tracy and David.