Harriers house draw winner bought ticket at last minute
A €400,000 luxury house raffled as a fundraiser by the Faythe Harriers GAA Club in Wexford, has been won by a Dublin woman who got a ‘ lucky feeling’ two days before the draw and bought the winning €100 ticket online.
Twenty-eight years old Jessica O’ Callaghan of Crumlin, Dublin 12, had been saving for a house with her boyfriend and the couple discussed on the eve of the draw how much it would mean to them if they won.
Club member Sean Meyler, of the Win the House organising committee had the pleasant task of telephoning Ms. O’ Callaghan after the winning ticket was drawn by parish administrator Fr. Aodhán Marken.
But Jessica already knew she had won because she was watching the draw as it was livestreamed on social media and realised she had the winning number.
‘She was speechless when I rang her. She didn’t know what to say. She was absolutely thrilled’, said Sean.
‘It was the best possible outcome for us because we have set someone up for life. She lives at home. She and her boyfriend have been saving for a deposit for a house and didn’t know whether they would ever get there’, he said.
‘She just got a lucky feeling on Saturday and bought the ticket online. They were talking the night before the draw about what they would do if they won.’
Sean was MC at the event which took place in a general purposes room at Wexford Park at midday on Monday. There was a small attendance of about a dozen people due to Covid-19 regulations.
It included David O’ Connor of Sheil Kinnear as an independent observer and draw ambassadors Larry O’ Gorman and Lee Chin.
The raffle for the three-bedroom, semi-detached house at Carton Wood in Maynooth, valued at €405,000, which was built by Wexford developer and Harriers member Anthony Neville, was launched a year ago as a fundraising drive to help the club complete a new clubhouse and community centre at Páirc Charman.
It has not been disclosed how many tickets were sold in total. The house was purchased by the club last Christmas from the proceeds of the raffle at that stage.