Lucky Liam lands Westport house

LIFE-CHANGING Winning couple Liam Walsh and Marie Duffy.

Mayo man wins a house two weeks after winning a car

Michael Duffy

A 31-year-old Knockmore man is heading into the New Year in the most festive of spirits after he won a house and a top-of-the-range car in two separate raffle draws in the space of two weeks.
The Win a House in Westport fundraising draw for Westport GAA has been the talk of the locality for the last few weeks, and the big draw took place to much anticipation in Hotel Westport on Sunday night. The GAA club managed to sell its full allocation of 10,000 tickets for the fundraiser, and tensions were high in Hotel Westport when Mayo and Westport footballer Fionn McDonagh pulled the winning ticket.
In the end, the winning ticket was revealed to be owned by Liam Walsh, from Ballina. After a nervous wait, Liam and his partner, Killawalla native Marie Duffy, were over the moon when Westport GAA contacted them through Liam’s mobile to confirm he had indeed won the house, which is valued at over €325,000.

Lucky streak
Liam admits that he had felt his luck was in before Christmas, when he won a Mercedes E350 and £2,000 on the R Kings Competitions Facebook page, after he bought a ticket for that draw for just £22.
“I am big into cars, so it was a lovely surprise to win such a top-of-the-range model just before Christmas. Marie and I both work in Allergan in Westport, and we were aware that the draw for the Win a House in Westport was coming up, so I decided after winning the car that I’d chance my luck and buy a ticket for €100.
“It really is such an amazing prize to win. We have been renting for the last seven or eight years and saving for a mortgage, so to actually win a house in one of the most beautiful towns in the country is truly amazing. I suppose you could say it’s life-changing,” said a still shocked Liam when he spoke to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday).
Marie explains that she and Liam had been on a short Christmas break in Cork when they decided to watch the Facebook Live transmission of the draw in Westport on Sunday evening.
“When the number 9232 was drawn first of all, I said to Liam that I thought that was close to the number on his ticket, so he went looking for it. It took a while for them to call out the actual name of the winner of the house, as it was the last prize to be revealed, but we were beyond shocked when they read out the winner as being from a Ballina address, and then revealed Liam’s name. We still knew we had to wait for a phone call from Westport GAA to confirm it, but that duly came shortly afterwards.
“To be honest we’re still pinching ourselves. My eldest sister, Olivia, and her family live less than a mile away from where our new house is located on the West Road, and our family home is only seven or eight miles away out in Killawalla. It certainly was the best €100 Liam ever spent,” said Marie.

‘Great buzz’
The house won by Liam and Marie is located in a new estate called Slí Na Misean on the West Road in Westport, in the shadow of Croagh Patrick. The four-bed detached home has a floor area of approximately 139.9 square metres.
Danny McLoughlin from Westport GAA – who organised the draw to raise much-needed funds for the club to purchase new development pitches – said everyone involved with the draw was delighted to hear it was a couple with local connections who had won.
“It’s great news. We have only just been in touch with Liam to let him know the good news, but we will be meeting up with him to finalise the details of the competition this week.
“The competition has been a remarkable success, it really caught the imagination of people not just locally, but nationally and internationally. We sold out our target of 10,000 tickets, and to be handing over the keys of a fine new house to the lucky winner is something special. We also had nine other very happy prizewinners on the night, and there was a great buzz around the whole event.”