Surprise all round as couple who win €350k Limerick home are in audience when winner revealed:
By Abigail Hayden Limerick Leader
THE RESULTS are in from the highly-anticipated Win A Home In Adare fundraiser.
Matea Marzic won the top prize of the evening, and is now the owner of the coveted €350,000 two-bedroom apartment in Adare.
“I still can’t believe it,” Matea gushed. “The feeling hasn’t settled down yet. I’m feeling a little bit in disbelief, to be honest.”
Amazingly, the 31-year-old and her husband Dino were in the crowd at the Woodlands Hotel for the draw on Sunday, August 18.
Matea explained that, “At first, I didn’t want to go, but my husband said that he was gonna go. He was saying that for weeks, ‘I’m gonna go. Everybody’s invited. It’s my day off.’”. In the end, she decided to join him.
They each bought a ticket after Dino saw an ad on Facebook for the raffle and they decided, “You know what? Why not?… It’s probably gonna be nothing, but like, at least we tried”.
Matea and Dino got to see their new apartment after the raffle draw, though it will probably be a while before they can move in: “They did a really, really good job and it looks stunning. Everything is brand new inside, it’s beautiful.”
“We’ll have to throw a housewarming party, definitely,” she added.
Matea’s ticket was the first ticket out of the drum, and while the hundreds of people watching on the livestream had to wait around 20 minutes to hear who had won, Matea recognised the number on her ticket “straight away”.
The couple are both originally from Croatia, and currently live in Kilcornan, Co. Limerick, having moved to Limerick eight years ago. They regularly drive past their new home.
Nora Murphy, Adare, won the runner-up prize of a €500 voucher for Limerick Travel.
Knockane GAA came in third, winning two tickets to Ireland vs New Zealand.
Eddie O’Connell, Kildimo, came fourth, with a prize of 2 nights bed and breakfast, with 1 evening meal in The Highlands Hotel, Donegal, and a round of golf for 2 at Narin Portnoo Links.
In fifth, Rory Hennigan, Ennis, winning two tickets to Munster v Leinster, and in sixth, Peter McMahon, Newcastle West, winning 2 nights bed and breakfast, with 1 evening meal in An Grianan Hotel, Donegal.
The draw to win a home in Adare started last April with Club Limerick/ Limerick GAA raising over €1.16 million through ticket sales during the four and a half month campaign.
Tickets were bought in all four provinces, as well as in Europe, Asia, Australia and America and numerous other places around the world.
Sean Scanlan, chairperson of the Win A Home In Adare committee and Club Limerick said, “I just want to thank everybody who supported us and bought tickets since we launched the fundraiser. The reaction in Limerick and all over the country as well as across the world has been fantastic”.
Proceeds from the draw are going towards the new Limerick GAA centre of excellence at Crecora.
Club Limerick/Limerick GAA will also be making donations from the draw to two wonderful organisations; the Mid-Western Cancer Foundation and the Mid West Simon Community.