For €250k Lotto winner, cleaning up means just that

This is the shy lotto winner who scooped €250,000 along with her ex-husband after they both played the same numbers.

Margaret and Pat O’Hagan are the toast of Co Donegal after they won last Saturday’s Plus 2 Lotto draw.

The couple from Letterkenny, who separated recently, did their lotto tickets in two different shops in the town after using their old numbers.

Pat went public with his win but Margaret preferred to remain anonymous.

However, it soon emerged how the couple decided to travel to Lotto headquarters in Dublin on Tuesday morning to collect their windfalls.

Last night, the pair were still remaining tight-lipped about the win.

The former couple’s neighbour and outgoing Mayor of Letterkenny, Cllr Gerry McMonagle said: “It couldn’t have happened to two nicer people. Pat and Margaret are well-respected members of the community.

“It’s great to see ordinary working-class people get a lift like this. They’ve both worked hard over the years to help others — Margaret in the hospital and Pat in An Post — and deserve this lucky windfall... Everyone in the area wishes them well.”

The pair, who have three grown-up children, were back in Letterkenny yesterday at their respective homes.

Margaret, a former domestic worker at Letterkenny General Hospital, was at her home on the Meadowbank estate in the Long Lane area of the town. Friends said she was busy cleaning the house as usual and said the money certainly would not go to her head.

“She lives for her children and for her home. She is forever cleaning. The place is spotless. You could eat your dinner off the floor.

“The mortgage is almost paid on the house but I have no doubt she will be spending some of her winnings on doing up the house and she will give some to the children.”

Another friend said: “Margaret is one of the straightest people you will ever met. What you see is what you get. There is no nonsense with her and she has a really good heart.”

Mrs O’Hagan’s estranged husband Pat, who also scooped €250,000 using the same six numbers, is also very well known in the town. He retired from An Post more than a decade ago on health grounds.

Pat is a quiz buff and has his own glass in his local, The Glencar Inn.

Friends say he certainly would not be flush and relied on his An Post pension, which would make his windfall even more welcome.

One of Margaret’s neighbours said of the couple: “They are still friends and probably had a good laugh travelling to the lotto offices to collect their cheques. People around here are just delighted for them.”