ONE MEMBER OF  a Carlow family which won last Saturday’s €2,773,649 Lotto jackpot announced to the rest of the family, before the draw that “we’re going to win the Lotto”.

The winning family syndicate, who have been playing Lotto together for the past five years, described the moment they realised they had won.

One of the family members said: “I was watching the Lotto draw on RTÉ One on Saturday and was sitting there with my pen and paper ready to tick off my numbers while my husband was in the living room watching the Dublin vs. Monaghan football match.

“As the Lotto Plus 1 and 2 draws were on I didn’t match one single number. I shouted in to my husband – ‘Here we go, watch this now – we’re going to win the Lotto” before the main draw took place. You can imagine the look on my face as, one-by-one, I had every single number.

After that it was all a blur. I just started screaming. He ran in to see what the commotion was. It was such an incredible moment – something you know you’ll never forget. We called the rest of the family and spread the good news and of course of course they thought I was having them on. Each and every one of them arrived quick as a flash to make sure that it was true.

The syndicate said that that after their mortgages and bills have been paid off, they will take a number of months before deciding what else to do with their prize.

Speaking on selling the winning Lotto ticket, Willie Rath, store owner of Rath’s Londis, who has run the store for over 36 years, said: “We had absolutely no idea we sold the winning ticket. There has been a hive of excitement in the county since the National Lottery announced that a winning ticket was sold in the town on Saturday but we never guessed that it would be sold here.

“We’re thrilled to hear that a local syndicate has already claimed their prize and we wish them every bit of luck with their prize. It’s a fantastic win for the community here – we are a small local store where the vast majority of our customers are local so I know that they will be delighted for the winners also.”