Celebrations after lottery win in Kerry

TWO Kerry men were popping open the champagne bottles at the weekend following their wins in two National Lottery competitions.

Tom Nix Junior, a cleaning contractor from Ballyvelly, Tralee, collected a cheque for over £110,000 from Lottery headquarters in Dublin on after his numbers came up in Saturday night’s Lotto.

TJ O’Connor, of Spa Road, Tralee, came back from Dublin on Friday night with a cheque for £6,000 after his second appearance on the RTE Show “Winning Streak”.

Tom Nix said that he enters the Lotto every Saturday night, but always uses different numbers. He bought his winning ticket at O’Connor’s Newsagent in the Mall and was in The Blasket pub at 8 pm with some friends that evening watching the draw live on television.

“First of all three numbers came up, then four, and then six. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that moment.”

He travelled to Dublin on Monday with his mother, sister and girlfriend to collect the cheque, but he says he has absolutely no idea of how he’s going to spend it.

“I think I might buy a car but after that I don’t know. I’ll put the money away

He says he has absolutely no intention of giving up work with his father’s contract cleaning business and doesn’t think the money will change his life dramatically.

Meanwhile, a second Tralee man, TJ O’Connor of Spa Road, created a bit of history on Friday night when he went to Dublin to take part in the “Winning Streak” programme for the second time.

On a previous occasion, T J, who manages a part-time recuperative centre for elderly people, won £12,000 on the programme.

However he says that he didn’t enjoy this occasion as much, because the “Winning Streak” computer system broke down, and there was some controversy involving two of the other contestants.