AN ARDARA PUNTER is today celebrating having backed Leicester City to win the Premier League at 1,500/1.
Liverpool supporter Daniel McHugh, who is the head chef at the family-owned Nancy’s Bar, admits his “blood pressure was through the roof last night” as Chelsea came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur – a result that confirmed Leicester City as champions and won him €7,500.
“Every year at the start of the season I put €100 on Liverpool to win the league,” 35-year-old McHugh (pictured below) told Donegal Sport Hub.
Liverpool haven’t won the top flight in English football since 1989/90 but have come close in recent seasons, most notably 2013/14 when they finished second to Manchester City.
“It’s a bet I do every year without fail,” McHugh adds. “They’re bound to do it sooner or later!
“I had a tenner left in my online account and just thought I would do a side bet. I decided just to throw a fiver on West Ham United as they’d signed Dimitri Payet and I knew how good a player he was. Then, with the other fiver I decided to back Leicester.”
In March 2015, Leicester were stranded at the bottom of the Premier League but managed to save themselves by winning seven from their last nine games.
McHugh didn’t get his bets on at the start of the season but did get them placed after four games, by which time Leicester had eight points from 12 and were cut from 5,000/1, although were still considered rank outsiders.
“I saw the way that Leicester had stayed up and Leonardo Ulloa was a player who I had on my fantasy football and he scored a lot of goals,” McHugh says. “So I backed Leicester at 1,500/1. I would’ve got 5,000/1 two weeks earlier. But either way it was just a complete punt.”
Leicester were top at Christmas with the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy outstanding for the side managed by Claudio Ranieri. There was a lot of talk about Leicester, just like their was about McHugh’s bet in Ardara.
“I’m a Liverpool fan but the further into the season it got, the more and more I was watching every Leicester game,” McHugh says. “I was just trying to keep the head down and not think about the bet but more and more people were talking about it.”
Betting sites now offer a cash-out facility, where a lower return on a potentially winning bet is offered before the outcome is known.
“A lot of people were suggesting I cash out and I was offered €6,000 on it in the last couple of weeks,” McHugh adds. “But the way I see it is that if I lost I would only lose my original fiver and Leicester were playing so well at the time. I just wanted to let the bet ride.”
[adrotate group=”37″]So, after the euphoria of winning €7,500 for €5, today has been a busy one for McHugh.
“I got a phonecall from a Turkish English-speaking radio station who asked me to go live on air,” he says. “Then I got an email from Paddy Power to say that everyone who won bets on Leicester City are being taken to Leicester’s game against Everton on Saturday.
“They’re getting presented with the cup and myself and my mate Shane Meehan from Letterkenny are getting complimentary flights, hotel and match tickets and then are being taken on an open bus tour around the city – with the team in the bus in front – with former Leicester City captain Matt Elliott.
“I thought it was a wind-up but it appears not to be.”
So, has McHugh any betting tip for next year’s Premier League.
“I do,” he says. “Put a fiver on Burnley!”
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