Wexford men spin and win €56,000
TWO Wexford men appeared on the final National Lottery Winning Streak game show of the season winning a total of €56,000 between them.
James Barron from Gurteens, Saltmills, walked away from the show with a cool €38,000.
James, who works the farm that his father, Jim, had before him, is a man for whom tradition is important. His father Jim, who passed away seven years ago, was a huge fan of the show and it was a Saturday night institution in the Barron household as far back as James can remember to play, so being on the show and winning was extra special for him.
The 38-year-old has been overwhelmed by the local community’s reaction to his Winning Streak appearance and has been flooded with well-wishes and supportive phone calls, texts and even house visits. He says that his Winning Streak luck, along with the good weather important for farming, resulted in an amazing few days for him.
James has two daughters, Emily and Sarah, who along with his long-term partner of 16 years Catriona Sinnott, supported him in the RTE studios.
In September James will be also representing the Model County in the National Ploughing Championship finals which will be held in Tullamore, Co Offaly. He has gone to the Championships every year without fail for the past 14 years and has been knocking on the door to qualify to represent Wexford.
With his winnings James says he is going to treat his family and enjoy every cent of the windfall.
The second Wexford player was Michael Moran who got a call from his father-in-law, Tom Tighe, the previous Sunday to ask him would he be interested in going on television for him. Micheal was more than happy to oblige and scored some serious brownie points with Tom after winning him €18,000.
Ferns man Michael (56) is married to Trish. They have five children Ciaran, Oisin, Michael Jnr, Cait, and Sadhbh. Ciaran and Oisin cheered their dad on in RTE on the night. Trish, who jetted off to Naples in Italy the day before with the two girls, watched excitedly from the RTE Player, while Michael Jnr watched his dad from home.
Michael coaches the St Cormac’s FC under -11 side in Boolavogue and believes it is important to encourage young people in sport and to allow all players to get a lot of game time, regardless of skill level. He is also a member of the local Monageer First Responders Group which are attached to the National Ambulance Service.
In his spare time Michael can be found in Wexford Library researching local history and browsing old archived newspapers. He likes to research key historical events in Wexford such as the 1798 Rebellion, the landing of the Normans and the historical Kavanagh clan.
His father Tom was watching when his name was pulled out on Saturday and Winning Streak, a ritual for him Tom is a proud granddad to nine grandchildren and loves playing bingo once a week.
The Winning Streak TV Gameshow is off air for the summer months and will return to RTE One on Saturday, September 22.
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on Winning Streak scratch cards and all National Lottery games go back to good causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, community, arts, heritage and the Irish language. In total more than €5 billion has been raised for good causes since the National Lottery was established 30 years ago. In 2017 alone, the National Lottery raised over €226 million for such good causes.