County Derry couple win bumper Westport Utd lotto

A County Derry couple who have been visiting Westport for over two decades broke down in tears when they landed Westport United’s lotto jackpot.

Gerry and Sheena O’Neill, from Loup outside Magherafelt in south Derry, scooped a whopping €28,800 when they bought the winning ticket from club chairman Stephen Duffy.

The couple were staying in Castlecourt Hotel when they learned they had won the jackpot, which has been rolling over for more than two years.

Gerry and Sheena, who are on first-name terms with hotel staff and other hostelries in the town, have on occasions visited twice in one year.

“We just love Westport,” Gerry told Derry Now.

“We’ve no family at all [in Westport] but over the years we got to know a lot of people in the hotel, and even up the street in different bars some of the bar staff know our first names because they always welcome us back. The hospitality of the place is just unbelievable. We just love going down there.”

Gerry – who regularly supported Westport United’s lotto over the years – was having a drink in The Porter House when his wife Sheena entered the draw.

The winning numbers 11, 13, 16, and 21, were picked by their daughter, Áine.

When Gerry learned the good news, his initial reaction was disbelief.

“I said ‘How much did we win?’ She says ‘28’. But I said, ‘Keep it for the club fund.’ ‘No’, she says, ‘you’ve won €28,000’.

“I said, ‘What are you trying to say to me?’ And she says, ‘You won €28,800’. I says, ‘You’re joking me?’. I broke down,” added Gerry.

“It’s not life-changing money, but it’s a lot of money to try and save. I am so excited, excited for my wife and my daughter and the hotel staff, even the back office. We had a nice bottle of champagne. I couldn’t settle down at all, so I couldn’t. I was still running about the bar at half-three, four o’clock.

“Pat, one of the barmen we had known for years… he said, ‘It couldn’t happen to a nicer couple’,” continued Gerry. “‘We just love yous coming down here. You can drink in this bar as long as I’m standing here’.”

Bond

The O’Neills have grown so fond of the West Mayo town that they even visited during the Covid-stricken years of 2020 and 2021.
Gerry compared staying in Westport and Galway in those years to ‘two different countries’.

“Just the hospitality of the place and the people,” Gerry explained, when asked why they keep coming back to West Mayo.

“There’s no big shops or anything like that just a nice wee place to go for your holidays. I wouldn’t say quiet, but we always found it very relaxing. Especially the people in the Castlecourt. We just love going there we just never get tired of going there. That’s why we make it our holidays.”

Westport United Chairman Stephen Duffy said that there has been a bond between the club and Derry for many years, beginning in the 1950s when Derry players began togging for Westport United.

“It’d be great to see a local winning it. but for a family that come to Westport regularly it’s great,” Mr Duffy told Derry Now.

Aussie trip

In a statement on social media, Castlecourt Hotel said: “As main sponsors of Westport United we are absolutely delighted that the jackpot was won in the Castlecourt by Gerry and Sheena who have been staying with us every year for nearly 20 years and bought many lotto tickets over the years.”

When asked how they intend to spend their winnings, Gerry said the couple hope to visit his son in Australia this Christmas.
“We could afford to go anyways, but I can’t say no to him now,” Gerry said.

“We’ve spent a lot of money in Westport over the years. It just couldn’t happen in a nicer part of the country,” he added.