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Donegal farmer claims €1m lottery prize

  • Published
winnerImage source, NAtional Lottery
Image caption,

Odhrán Doherty went to Dublin to collect his winnings on Tuesday

A 23-year-old farmer from County Donegal has claimed his €1m prize from the National Lottery.

Odhrán Doherty, from Letterkenny, won the Lotto Plus 1 draw on Saturday night after his father bought the ticket for him.

James Barclay, who owns the lucky shop in Raphoe, sold Saturday night's winning ticket worth €1m (£860,000).

Mr Barclay also sold a local man a winning ticket worth €500,000 (£431,000) in February.

Odhrán told Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio Foyle he went to the shop to get the ticket scanned and he didn't know what to do.

"I thought I might have won a couple of thousand," he said.

"I scanned it on the app on my phone first but it didn't tell me how much it was for. That's why I had to go to the shop.

"The numbers started to get blurry because I was getting that excited. I didn't realise it was going to be this amount.

"My dad thought it was an April fools. I put my hands up in the air and told him I'm a millionaire."

Image caption,

James Barclay standing outside his shop in Raphoe, County Donegal, where the ticket was sold

The sheep-farmer said he is going to take a month or so to relax and then he might go on a holiday with his friends and family.

"I always wanted to go skiing so I might do that now. Maybe some new farming machinery might be in order too. I will always be a farmer."

Odhran's father Liam said he was "delighted" for him.

The winning numbers were: 8, 11, 16, 18, 20, 46 and bonus number 40.

Three winning lottery tickets were bought in Raphoe in the last two months.