Abbeyleix grandmother is the lucky €250,000 National Lottery winner

A local Abbeyleix grandmother has come forward to collect last Saturday's €250,000 Lotto Plus Jackpot.

The first of two big lottery winners in Laois this week, the grandmother collected her cheque from Lotto headquarters yesterday April 20.

The lady who wishes to remain anonymous, only heard about the local win after her son read about it on facebook. She had bought her quickpick ticket in Cleland's Supermarket in Abbeyleix.

“I had gone in there the day before to buy a ticket for the Saturday night draw. We checked the numbers together and discovered I won. The excitement was something else, I went into pure shock. I rang my husband straight away, but he didn’t believe me at all, and just asked what time dinner was at," she said at the Lottery HQ.

It made for a great Easter Sunday celebration she revealed.

“I had the whole family over for Easter dinner that day, all the kids and grandchildren and it was just fantastic. We are all looking forward to enjoying the prize as a family, and putting it to go use in the coming weeks,” she said.

Clelands Supermarket owner Alex Cleland is delighted it is a local winner.

"We are absolutely thrilled for them. Hopefully it will bring them a lot of luck and joy," said owner Alex Cleland.

A second and even bigger winner in Laois this week, who won half a million in the EuroMillions draw, has yet to collect their prize. Another quickpick ticket, it was bought in the Daybreak shop at the Gandon Inn, Emo.