'The lotto had been won... my parents were both in the syndicate. There was no mention of leaving college'

As a young woman, all Marie McMahon wanted was to study fashion but it was financially difficult on her parents. She describes the stroke of good fortune that secured her college career

What Difference a Day Makes... Marie McMahon at the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History in Clonmel. Marie McMahon's parents were in a syndicate that won the lotto back in the early 90s — it meant she could afford continue her expensive fashion design course. Pictures: Larry Cummins

In the early 1990s, I was 21, studying fashion in Limerick College of Art & Design. I’d done art outside of school — and a portfolio course in art and design after Leaving Cert. I was always fiercely determined.

I was also hugely into athletics. In my mid-teens, I was very involved in Clonmel Athletics Club, I’d won an all-Ireland championship medal in the pentathlon. I dreamed of being in the Olympics. At college, it was difficult to continue that level of intense training.