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An emotional son scooped €44,109 in the Lotto using his late father's lucky numbers - exactly four months after he passed.

When his dad passed away in December, Cork man Anthony Walsh teamed up with his mother Eileen and started to play the Lotto using his father Jimmy's numbers.

He said: "It’s a bitter sweet day, but we know that our dad is definitely looking out for us.

"There are seven of us in the family so his lucky Lotto numbers are a combination of our birthdays.

"He had been playing the same numbers for almost 30 years and although he did come close by matching 5 numbers a couple of times, it was always a dream for him to come to Dublin as a big Lotto winner.

"We’re fulfilling that dream here today."

The Walsh family, from outside of Glanmire, Co Cork, collected their Lotto Match 5 + Bonus prize at the National Lottery HQ surrounded by their extended family.

Their winning ticket was purchased at the Glanmire Service Station.

The family's Normal Play ticket was one number short of claiming the €2.9 million jackpot for the draw on Wednesday, April 4.

(Image: The National Lottery)

Anthony was told by his mother that they hadn't won anything, but he brought it into his local shop to double check.

He added: "We had absolutely no idea that we had won anything! I called my mother the day after the draw to check to see if we had any numbers on the Lotto and she told me that we didn’t win.

"I brought the ticket into the local shop on Saturday to get it checked and all of a sudden I’ve been told that we’ve won over €40,000!

"Incredibly, that day marked four months since the passing of our dad and we just knew that he had a big part to play in all of this."

Wednesday's Lotto jackpot is heading towards an estimated €4 million.