Athlone team manager wins club's lotto jackpot

Athlone senior football team manager Eoin Jordan scooped Athlone GAA's Lotto jackpot of €15,600 last week.

Known to many friends and sporting colleagues as 'Joey', Eoin has managed the Athlone team for the past couple of years and is still in charge for the 2024 season. Eoin is no doubt a popular winner of the jackpot, and Athlone GAA has extended congratulations to him.

From Moydrum, Eoin is also well known for his involvement with football teams from the Marist College, where he works as a teacher. Eoin's father, Galway native Kevin, is a stalwart of Southern Gaels hurling club and he has served as Westmeath Coiste na nÓg secretary in recent years.

There were also three match 3 winners of €70 each in last week's Athlone GAA draw, Michael McNamara, Michelle Somers and Willie Warby, and the jackpot for Thursday's draw reverts to €2,000.

Just 24 hours after his lotto win, Eoin was reminded of the challenges his side will face in this year's championship. Reigning county champions St Loman's, Mullingar proved far strong for Athlone as they claimed a 2-16 to 0-8 victory in the ACFL Division 1 game at Páirc Chiaráin last Friday night.

With Westmeath having been knocked out of the Leinster championship earlier than expected at the hands of Wicklow, St Loman's were able to call on county stars like John Heslin, Ronan O'Toole and Sam McCartan. For their part, Athlone were missing Ray Connellan who is still recovering from the hamstring injury which ruled him out of Westmeath's aforementioned clash with Wicklow.

Heslin struck for an early goal which left Athlone playing catch up and a late TJ Cox goal added gloss to the Mullingar side's victory. Cillian Lynn (0-4) and Kian Mitchell (0-2) accounted for the bulk of Athlone's scores. Interestingly, Athlone will face St Loman's in their opening Westmeath SFC game later in the year.

That Athlone vs St Loman's game was part of a triple header of fixtures which attracted a considerable attendance to Páirc Chiaráin on Friday.

There was better luck for the Athlone ladies team as they defeated The Downs' second team on a 3-13 to 0-11 scoreline. The Athlone goals were scored by Ciara Murphy, Ava Martin and Grace McGlynn, while both Niamh Byrne and Tara Khan contributed 0-3 each.

The Athlone minor boys also emerged victorious with a comprehensive win over combination team New Forest Gaels on the same evening.