23 February 2020
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
A singer-songwriter from Co. Cork was certainly on song last Saturday as he won a €31,000 Winning Streak bonus when he appeared on the National Lottery TV game show on 22nd February.
Fergal O’Connor from Mallow, Co. Cork won €31,000 on last Saturday’s (22nd February 2020) National Lottery Winning Streak Game Show. Pictured here at the presentation of the winners cheques were from left to right: Sinead Kennedy Winning Streak co-host; Fergal O’Connor the winning player; Jim O’Connor The National Lottery and Marty Whelan Winning Streak Game Show co-host; The winning ticket was bought from Foley’s Foodstore, Ballydaheen, Cork Road, Mallow Co. Cork. Pic: Mac Innes Photography
Fergal O’Connor from Mallow, Co. Cork, but now living in Youghal was thrilled with his haul of €31,000 in cash. He spoke of how he got on the RTÉ One programme and said he was jamming at home with his friend, Darragh on piano and Fergal on guitar, when they were interrupted by a call to Fergal’s phone. It was Fergal’s mum who told him that his name came out of the drum for the next Winning Streak show.
Fergal was bemused by this as he never sent in a ticket. However, his dad Richard, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, got a few Winning Streak scratch cards. Fergal’s mum, Peggy wrote out his name on one of them, and this is the one that landed him on the show.
It has been a good year for Fergal who got engaged last April to Eilís. The couple are in saving mode both for a new home and a wedding, which they want to host in their future home, so his Winning Streak luck could not have come at a better time.
The couple’s dream is to buy land out in the Cork countryside and build their own home, so this handsome win will go a long way for them. They love the peace and tranquillity that living in the country brings. They recently opened their own business – Seed and Blossoms Wellness Centre in Youghal which provides the community with a range of yoga, pilates and relaxation workshops and holistic therapies which aim to relieve the stresses and strains of modern life. Eilis is a yoga teacher and physiotherapist by trade and they are really enjoying the venture.
They also like taking long walks in the forests of Youghal with their beloved dog Baloo (a golden poodle) and both like to relax by doing a spot of gardening and even grow their own herbs.
Eilis was in the audience cheering Fergal on last weekend along with Fergal’s mum Peggy and his siblings Adrian and Gillian and their respective families as well as some of Fergal’s friends. Fergal’s dad Richard watched on from hospital as he isn’t feeling great at the moment.
Describing his music as “easy-listening, Fergal is a singer-songwriter who is in writing mode for his new album where he is collaborating with a number of artists including Marketa Irglova, who won the Oscar for Best Song alongside Glen Hansard for the movie Once, which both starred in. Both were introduced in Reykjavik, Iceland and hit it off so are working together on a couple of songs. Fergal’s first album “Light Breaks Through” is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music.
As if he isn’t busy enough Fegal also likes to run. He ran his first marathon last year and is in training for the Cork Marathon this summer. He is also interested in the Japanese concept of forest bathing, which involves going into the countryside and forests with the aim of connecting with nature and surrounding yourself with the energy of the natural world.
The Winning Streak National Lottery TV game show is co-presented by Marty Whelan and Sinead Kennedy and features some perennial favourite games including Play or Pay, Roll for Riches, WinFall and Electric Dream – where one player will win an electric car worth €25,000.
As ever one of the lucky five players will get the chance to spin the wheel and win up to €500,000. An exciting element of the show is that one €100,000 segment will be added to the Grand Prize Wheel every show if less than that amount was won in the previous show, improving players chances to win a massive prize.
Winning Streak scratch cards are available in more than 5,800 National Lottery retailers all over the country. In addition to the chance to appear on the Winning Streak TV game show if you get three stars, players will also be in with a chance to win some great cash prizes up to €5,000. The odds of winning a cash prize or a three star prize for those who purchase a Winning Streak scratch card is 1 in 1.86. All players who purchase a scratch card can send their stubs into the National Lottery using grey envelopes, available in all National Lottery agents, where each week on the show, a player will be drawn as the winner of a Luxury Cruise for two valued at €5,000.
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on Winning Streak and all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish Language. In total more than €5.6 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 32 years ago. In 2019 alone, €250 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.