Kerry football legend wins over €16,000 in club lotto - ‘Even Dubs were sending him good messages’

Mickey Ned O’Sullivan hopes his win will highlight how much funds the lotto raises for his club

Kerry football legend Mickey Ned O'Sullivan (centre) receiving his lotto cheque of €16,400 from Kenmare club officials Alan Sheehy (secretary), Sean O'Regan (chairperson), Timothy Palmer (lotto committee chairperson) and Mairead Cronin (treasurer).

A Kerry football legend said he ‘won’t get too excited’ after winning the jackpot in his local club’s weekly lottery.

Former Kerry footballer and manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan, who captained the Kingdom to All-Ireland glory in 1975, won €16,400 after his numbers were drawn in Kenmare Shamrocks GAA’s lotto on Sunday evening.

Mickey Ned spoke to The Kerryman about his win.

“It’s nice to win anything, you know,” he said.

“I probably have a ticket in there every year since it began and this is the first time I have won.”

The All-Ireland winner hopes his win will highlight the importance of the lotto for the club.

“All the money that isn’t won goes for the facilities, the all-weather pitch, the gym - there is plans for a new gym - and the maintenance of the facilities, which are great, top-class,” he said.

“It’s good to know that the vast majority of the money goes back into the club.”

Mickey Ned said he has no plans after his lotto win.

“We’ll work it out. We weren’t expecting it anyway,” he said.

“We won’t get excited,” he joked.

The lotto win was the cherry on top of a great day for Mickey Ned.

He had watched his club beat Dingle in Kenmare in the first round of the Senior Football Championship and his neighbour, Jonah Kirby, won a gold medal in the World Rowing Championships on Sunday.

Kenmare Shamrocks PRO, Paul O’Sullivan, told The Kerryman that Mickey Ned is a “very popular winner” of the lotto prize, which had been growing since Christmas.

“It shows there on our social media platforms - the amount of congratulations that he has got from so many people,” Paul said.

“Across the water, New York, even Dubs were sending him good messages as well, which was a great thing to see!”

“After the numbers came out we realised we had one winner and it was Mickey Ned.

“ [Lotto committee chairperson] Timothy rang him and he just called out the four numbers asking Mickey if he recognised them.

“And he said ‘Gosh no, were they something to do with the game today’. ‘No’, he said, ‘they are the four numbers that just won you €16,400!’.”

Paul said Mickey Ned has been playing the lotto since it began in 2011, and it was great for a local man to win it.

The club’s lotto draw takes place at 8pm each Sunday and it has proved to be a great fundraiser.

Kenmare Shamrocks sell lotto tickets from a tent in the town centre from 3pm until the draw begins each Sunday.

“People call up to us all the time for a chat, a photo with whoever is there, Seánie [O’Shea] is there a lot of the time, so it’s all great,” Paul said.

Tickets can also be purchased from club officials and through the club’s website (kenmaregaa.ie) and social media.

This Sunday night’s club lotto jackpot is €10,000.

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