Ballinrobe man wins his way to Rio

Ballinrobe man wins his way to Rio


Ciara Galvin

A LUCKY Ballinrobe man will be jetting off to Brazil later this month to see Ed Sheeran (pictured) in concert after winning a radio competition.
Pat McTigue and his wife Niamh will be flying to Rio de Janeiro at the end of the month to see chart topping musician Sheeran thanks to Dublin radio station FM104.
The popular station ran a competition called ‘RockinRio’ and last Thursday Pat was announced as the victor.
To qualify for last week’s final listeners had to identify a song title and artist correctly after it was played against samba music. Last Thursday Pat beat off stiff competition from 60 other finalists to win the amazing prize.
After three rounds of questions about music and geography, six finalists had to rate six random items in terms of their weight. Pat was finally declared the winner after a tie break question.
“We had to guess the weight of a mug, it was a total guess live on air,” said Pat.
“When I was announced as the winner I was shell shocked and stuck for words, it’s some prize to win. Niamh was listening to it all on the radio,” explained Pat.

Passport drama
The nail biting isn’t over yet for the lucky couple however, as Niamh doesn’t have a passport.
“Niamh has to apply for a passport this week so hopefully it comes on time. We’re big Ed Sheeran fans and were disappointed not to get tickets to see him in Dublin, but now we’re going to Rio,” explained the Ballinrobe native.
Thanks to Pat’s accurate guessing skills in the competition, he and Niamh will fly to Rio where they will stay for seven nights. While in Brazil the couple will take in Christ the Redeemer tour, experience Sugar Loaf Mountain along with a samba show experience and a favela tour. After all of this they will dance the night away to Ed Sheeran on April 30.
Pat’s win topped off a great week for the McTigue family from the south Mayo town, after his nephew SeΡn lined out as a flag carrier for Ireland’s soccer fixture with Poland at the Aviva Stadium last week.