A Beaufort Lotto winner who successfully scooped €257,723 in Saturday night's draw was just one number shy of winning the third highest jackpot of all time!

The winner matched five numbers and the bonus to win a massive €257,723 in Saturday night’s mega draw which had a top prize of €16,419,005.

The winning Normal Play ticket was purchased on the day of the draw at Carson’s Daybreak store in Beaufort village.

Owner of the winning store, Melvin Carson, who is a fifth generation storekeeper in Beaufort village, was thrilled to hear that one of his customers had scooped the Lotto prize of €257,723.

“My phone rang late on Saturday night and when I saw it was from the National Lottery, my heart nearly stopped because I knew I must have sold a big winner. What a story that would have been, to have a €16 million Euro winner in such a small Kerry village,” he laughed.

“It’s not the jackpot prize but it’s still a brilliant prize for one of my customers to win. We are a very small, close knit community down here in Beaufort and I can guarantee that whoever it is, it will be such a well deserving prize. We are a small local convenience store and post office with five employees so it’s a tremendous feeling here knowing that one of our customers is over a quarter of a million Euro richer. I know the entire village will be buzzing at this news so we wish them every bit of success with their win,” he said.

The winning numbers were: 09, 14, 22, 24, 37, 44 and the bonus was 45.

The winning ticket holder is advised to sign the back of their ticket and keep it in a safe place. They should contact the prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ieand arrangements will be made for them to claim their prize.

As there was no winner of the €16,419,005 jackpot on offer in Saturday night’s draw, Wednesday’s jackpot is now estimated to roll to €17 million, the second highest jackpot ever to be on offer in the history of the game in Ireland.