Lotto luck in offaly village

The identity of Offaly's latest lotto millionaire remained a mystery yesterday(Thursday) afternoon, as word of the windfall spread around Crinkle and beyond.

The €4,904,904 winning ticket was sold at Crinkill Super Store near Birr on Monday. Shopkeeper Tom Geraghty described sellling the winning €4 quick pick ticket as 'a dream come true' and admitted he has always harboured a dream of selling a jackpot winner.

'It's just mind boggling, it's hard to believe it. I'm just thrilled to bits,' said Mr Geraghty.

Mr Geraghty, who is originally from the Wood-of-0 and has run the store for the past 20 years, said there is no word on the winner yet. We are still waiting and hopeful.'

Everyone in the area is hoping that the winner will be a member of the local community, he said. Mr Geraghty ruled out three local syndicates  who regularily play in the shop, explaining that they normally purchase multidraw tickets. Depite this, individual workers from the local companies could have purchased the ticket, he admitted.

Local Cllr John Carroll believes the winner is more than likely from the area. 'We would hope it would be local and I suppose there is a good chance it could be local because it is off the main thoroughfare,' he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Geraghty said 'there's rumours but they are only rumours and there is no weight behind them.'

He described the atmosphere in Crinkle as wonderful. It's tremendous, it has been great and everybody is really delighted for the shop and delighted for the area,' he added.

There was a festive atmosphere outside Crinkill Super Store after news of the win broke. 'We have music outside the shop as well and we have balloons, said Mr Geraghty.

The winning numbers in the midweek lotto were 9,11,12, 29, 31 and 35. The bonus number was 1. There was no winner of lotto plus one or lotto plus two.