Winner revealed: Limerick man ‘cool as a cucumber’ despite €500,000 EuroMillions win

LIMERICK man Shane Philip Maher had many reasons to get up this Wednesday – half a million of them to be precise!

Shane, 48, popped open the champagne this week after his numbers came up in the Euromillions Plus draw, winning him €500,000.

He scooped the prize after a quick pick ticket saw him strike it lucky in last week's draw.

The draw numbers on the Euromillions draw were 2, 6, 15, 34, 44, with the two bonus numbers 4 and 5.​

He was due to collect his cheque this Wednesday from Lottery headquarters in Lower Abbey Street, Dublin – but managed to miss the train from Colbert Station which would have got him to the capital in time!

“I’m as cool as a cucumber,” Shane admitted. “What can I say, I don’t get overly excited about money, the most important thing for me is my health.”

The suicide awareness campaigner says he plans to use some of his winnings to invest in property along with two other business partners.

Shane bought the winning ticket at Tesco Ireland in the Crescent Shopping Centre for the draw on Tuesday, July 10.

He returned to the store this week, and after scanning his ticket, it read: “Winning Ticket, Please Contact Headquarters”.

Shane asked one of his friends to call Lotto headquarters. And he was delighted to find out he was €500,000 better off.

Despite this, he said: “Money is no good to you without your health. I have had problems with my knee.

“I have had mental health problems. Money was the easiest thing I ever came by in my life. Learning patience was the hardest.”

Shane added he bets on horses – netting his first big win of IR£1,400 at the age of 19 – as well as the EuroMillions.

However, he does not play the Irish Lottery, because he feels it should be reduced in price from the current level of €2 a line.

It’s something he plans to impart to the game company’s staff when he collects his cheque.

Limerick lived up to its reputation as a lucky lottery location over the weekend.

Joining Shane in the winners’ enclosure was another person, who scooped €111,271 in Saturday’s Irish Lotto draw, with the winning ticket sold in the Gala store at Sheare Street, Kilmallock.

The latest windfalls came just a month after a syndicate won €4.3m buying a ticket at Whitty’s Mace.

Limerick, of course, is the home of one of the Euromillions biggest ever winners. Former Limerick Youth Service cleaner Dolores McNamara, originally from Garryowen, won €115m back in 2005.