Curate’s papal tip inspired punters’ lucky bet

Clues have emerged about the possible source of an inspired tip which led several Kerry punters to place winning bets on the new pope.

There’s strong speculation that a curate in a Cork-Kerry border parish may have, unwittingly, given the nod to customers in a Killarney pub who won more than €6,000 on a 50-1 flutter.

Fr Kevin McNamara predicted the election of Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in a column he writes for the weekly Killarney Outlook. The column, written prior to Wednesday’s election of Pope Francis, was not published until Friday.