'Jacks of all trades' syndicate celebrate life-changing EuroMillions win
The 11-strong crew of tradesmen travelled from corners of the east of the country to Lotto HQ in Dublin on Wednesday to collect their €255,000 prize, which they won in the special EuroMillions Ireland Only Raffle being run throughout the month of May.
The syndicate, made up of builders, plumbers, electricians, and engineers, were one of 10 winners of the Ireland Only Raffle in the EuroMillions draw on May 27. And while that prize is usually worth €5,000, the National Lottery added an additional prize of €250,000 for one winner of the Ireland-Only Raffle for all nine EuroMillions draws during the month of May.
The group's winning Quick Pick ticket was purchased by head of the syndicate, Richard O'Brien, at Applegreen, on Newfoundwell Road in Greenbatter, Drogheda, Co Louth, on the day of the draw. That ticket held the all-important raffle number: I-SDL-14299.
The syndicate has been playing together for five years and the group has stuck to a simple system: one group chat, one EuroMillions ticket each, three lines with the Plus, and everyone keeping an eye on every ticket.
Shortly after the draw on May 27, one eagle-eyed member beat Richard to checking the tickets and sent a simple message to the group saying: "This is a winner!"
Richard initially thought they'd bagged a modest €5,000. "Then one of the lads said, 'Check again, we've won a lot more than that. There's a special raffle on.' I thought he was pulling my leg… until I looked it up. That's when I saw we'd won an extra €250,000!" said Richard.
"The phone was hopping with calls and texts for the rest of the night. It was madness but great excitement!" he added.
The next morning, Richard contacted the National Lottery Claims team to confirm the win. That evening, the group met up to sign the back of the winning ticket and celebrated their win together.
Since then, the 11-strong crew have been happily debating how to spend their handsome windfall. One of the syndicate members plans on buying a new couch for his partner, another is helping a family member save for a house, and the group chat is now full of holiday plans and chatter on sun destination.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Lotto results: No winner of jackpot but over 124,000 players win prizes
There was no winner of the Lotto jackpot on Saturday night, but over 124,000 players won prizes across Ireland. While there was no winner of the €15,584,106 jackpot, plenty of players won prizes in the Lotto and Lotto Plus draws. The winning numbers in the main Lotto draw were: 11, 18, 19, 26, 32, 36 and the Bonus 7. The winning numbers for the Lotto Plus One draw were: 2, 9, 10, 16, 27, 33 and the Bonus 18. The winning numbers for the Lotto Plus Two draw were: 2, 4, 11, 14, 30, 40 and the Bonus 16. There were 101 winners of the raffle prize. The winning raffle number was: 7570. Meanwhile, the National Lottery HQ has been buzzing with excitement this week, as winners from across the country travelled to the capital to claim their life-changing Lotto prizes. From surprise holiday discoveries to tickets guarded like treasure, the celebrations were in full swing at Lotto HQ- and with tonight's EuroMillions jackpot soaring to an estimated €235 million, anticipation is building across Ireland ahead of tonight's draw. Among those picking up prizes this week were a syndicate of five from the west of Ireland, who claimed a cheque for a whopping €1 million which they won in the special EuroMillions Ireland Only Raffle from the August 1 draw with their online ticket. As with every EuroMillions draw, ten players in the August 1 draw won €5,000 with their unique raffle ticket number, while the special draw saw the Lotto syndicate have an additional €1,000,000 added to their prize, making them the 16th National Lottery millionaire of the year with a total prize worth €1,005,000. The group, based in Co Sligo, discovered their win while on holiday, turning a relaxing break into a moment of pure celebration. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Oasis at Croke Park: ‘Hello, hello, it's good to be back,' Liam Gallagher sings to 82,000 jubilant, air-punching fans
Oasis Croke Park, Dublin ★★★★☆ A beery hum of anticipation has swollen to the point of frenzy when Oasis stride on stage for their Irish homecoming, older but not necessarily any wiser, just like the rest of us. Liam Gallagher brandishes his maracas and parades the hand of Noel Gallagher, the big brother who held out on this reunion for so long. 'Hello, hello, it's good to be back,' he sings in their opener, Hello, and 82,000 people show him the feeling's mutual. On a less mad-for-it night than this, another of that song's lyrics, where we're warned 'it's never going to be the same', might linger in the collective ears of Croke Park , but we're not here to fret, or think. We're here to be stupidly young again, and Oasis don't have to do very much to unlock the fervent support of their tribe. READ MORE Liam gives our efforts a satisfied nod, and as the band unleash the soaring Acquiesce and a wildly jubilant Morning Glory, there's no uncertainty, no hesitation. Celebration mode has been activated. Oasis are here! And they're as emphatic as ever. Liam blesses himself and tells us he's missed us, then Some Might Say, their first UK number one, lands like the quintessential Oasis song, setting out its promising stall before dining off its own guitar-led swagger in a manner that's brash, nonsensical and couldn't be more 1995 if it tried. Live 25: Liam Gallagher of Oasis on stage at Croke Park. Photograph: Big Brother Recordings Live 25: Noel Gallagher of Oasis on stage at Croke Park. Photograph: Big Brother Recordings Live 25: Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis on stage at Croke Park. Photograph: Big Brother Recordings On the outward stretch we're also treated to the hedonistic snarl of Cigarettes & Alcohol, the daft rhymes of Supersonic and the big, dumb propulsion of Roll With It. The band's entry in its infamous chart battle with Blur was never much adored, but tonight it exudes an energy that certain other tracks (cough, Bring It on Down, cough, Fade Away) don't quite. After Liam dedicates the song to anyone in from Charlestown, Co Mayo, and bellows it out, it's time for the first of two Noel -led sections of the gig. He applauds the crowd's gap-filling 'Olé, olé, olé', then ushers in relative subtlety with the plaintive Talk Tonight before being rewarded with a reverent singalong for the brass-enhanced Half the World Away. Croke Park is swaying and sozzled, all hard shells long since cracked. 'True perfection has to be imperfect,' Noel contends on Little by Little, the sole but worthy representative of the band's extensive Noughties output. It's another fine collision of downbeat sentiment and joyous, rousing chorus. After Liam reclaims lead vocals we're on to the weakest pair of songs: D'You Know What I Mean? is like a facsimile of an Oasis track, while Stand by Me, its companion from 1997, remains deadening. Cast No Shadow elicits the first waving phone torches as the sky darkens, but we return to the default vibe of shouty peak Oasis only with the advent of Slide Away, and from there we proceed to the reliable highlight Whatever, the loveliest of Liam-sung songs. It's melded, as is traditional, with a snippet of The Beatles' Octopus's Garden, for all those Ringo Starr fans out there. We're firmly in anthem city now: Live Forever is the manifesto of a song that sealed the deal for Oasis, and it arrives, just as it did in the summer of 1994, as a breath of defiantly retro air. Set-list quibbles aside, it's frankly pointless wishing Oasis were a different band. 'It's just rock'n'roll,' as Liam insists on Rock'n'Roll Star, and that's its superpower. A four-song encore begins with Noel's acknowledgment of the non-Gallaghers in the line-up, with the loudest cheers reserved for the returned original member Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs. Then the potent melancholy of The Masterplan, previously and reasonably described by Noel as the best thing he's ever written, sets everybody off again, and we know what's coming next: Don't Look Back in Anger, a true belter from the first word, gets the loyal, emotional singalong it deserves, its title chanted by the crowd before the final phrase. Noel seems like he might be chuffed on the inside. Still, we've got to save what's left of our voices for Wonderwall, which Liam intones with impressive relish, his distinctive hands-behind-back pose lending an edge to what is, in essence, a ballad. Amid psychedelic backdrops, the faltering strains of Champagne Supernova feel more like a goodbye than ever. Liam gives Noel a few manly shoulder pats, then he's off. Oasis have knocked it out of Croke Park on a barnstorming, air-punching, controversy-proof night that transcends nostalgia and delivers a whopping dose of catharsis. We are gonna live forever, right?
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Irish GP reveals questionable practices of western GPs in Qatar
Opera in the Open, an initiative of Dublin City Council, are free live performances in the city centre that run every Thursday in August on Wood Quay.
