Lotto 'nearly as good' as county final success

The €7m Lotto win in Kingscourt is "nearly as good as when they won the county final last year", according to the priest who has been credited with ensuring divine intervention for the town. Fr Gerard McCormack, PP, told The Anglo-Celt: "When I was giving out the parish financial statement the previous weekend, acknowledging the generous contributions from the people of the parish and speaking about the forthcoming major renovation works at the church, I quipped that if anybody did win the lottery, that they might remember the church restoration at this time. "Even at Mass on Sunday there was great auld fun, but nothing would replace winning the county final last autumn - even if someone won a hundred million." It takes a voice of authority such as that to keep things in perspective, but even so, there was Saturday night fever in Kingscourt at the weekend as the hunt for the new €7m Lotto millionaire began and excitement and speculation filled the air. The outlet that sold the winning ticket, Pat's Shop, is owned by Padraig and Hilda McCormack. When word of the big win reached it shortly after 9.30pm, the news spread quickly and it seemed as if thousands of people descended on the town. The cheers, laughter, speculation and the nomination of winners from the taverns filled the long, wide Main Street and the atmosphere was electric. Everyone was asking everyone else if they had done the Lotto in Pat's and many were convinced that the winner was a young person from the area. For the record the winning numbers were 15, 21, 23, 25, 44, 45 and the bonus was 10. The winner spent a total of €6 on the Lotto on Saturday in Pat's Shop, including some lines of quick-pick and numbers the winner chose. It was the latter that produced the winning formula, the same as for the person in Kinsale, who also won €7m. Padraig and Hilda McCormack were enjoying the excitement and attention from the media at their shop on Monday. Padraig said there were hundreds of people from Tyrone to Tipperary in town for a handball tournament and they were busy with the Lotto all day Saturday. If one of those visitors purchased the ticket, the money would be gone out of the town, he said. He added the town was manic after the news filtered out that one of the €7m winners had purchased the ticket in their shop - his daughter Gayle took the call from Lotto HQ confirming they had sold one of the winning tickets. Padraig said it was a great buzz for the town, and a good recession-buster. Sunday was also a special day for the football-mad McCormack family, as their son Ryan netted three goals and three points in Kingscourt's win over Cuchulainns. Padraig said the speculation was rife in the town about the identity of the winner and places like Muff and Tierworker were being mooted as locations for the latest Lotto millionaire. Courtesy of the mobile phone and the internet, Kingscourt people in such far flung places as Melbourne, Perth and New York, were involved in the drama unfolding in their home town. "I don't have a clue about the identity of the winner," said Padraig, while Hilda added said the news was just marvellous for the town: "It's nice to get a bit of good news for a change. Hopefully the person that has won the money will use it wisely. It was mad here all day Sunday in the shop." Fr McCormack explained that the parish will be re-roofing the church this summer and completing the spire, which was started 139 years ago but never finished. Some 20 years ago, the then priest, Fr Farrell, mentioned prior to Victor Sherlock winning that if someone was to win the lottery, they might consider making a donation to the car park. The next week the late Victor won and gave a generous donation to the work.