"A celebrity for a day. You feel like you've won it yourself!" This was the reaction of east Galway newsagent Cherry O'Connor yesterday to confirmation that one of her customers is now €13 million richer, writes Lorna Siggins, Western Correspondent
Speculation was rife as to the identity of the new Lotto winner, who purchased a €12 "Quickpick" ticket at O'Connor's News & Choose shop in Loughrea only to go on to claim the second-biggest prize in National Lottery history.
"There's a lot of rumours, and some people have been set up for a laugh. But we don't know and, at this stage, we probably won't know," Ms O'Connor told The Irish Times.
The €13,295,379 jackpot displaces another Co Galway winner who secured €10 million with a ticket purchased at the Statoil garage in Tuam last September.
The largest lottery win was €16 million, won by Paul and Helen Cunningham from Fairhill, Cork city, last July.
News & Choose has been owned for the past seven years by Jarlath and Cherry O'Connor, and achieved a national profile when it was one of a number of businesses to participate in a pilot "euro" currency project for the European Commission.
Ms O'Connor is the third member of her family to sell a Lotto winning ticket, as her two brothers - Tom, owner of Carey's newsagents in Lucan, Co Dublin, and Hugh, a proprietor in Belmullet, Co Mayo - have also bestowed good fortune on their customers.
The O'Connors will receive a sellers' award, and intend to celebrate with staff this evening before closing, albeit briefly, for Christmas.
The jackpot's winning numbers were 9, 18, 20, 21, 34, 45, and the bonus was 42.