'I'm strangely flattered', Marty Whelan says in response to Marty Whelan tattoo

A lost bet has turned into a story for the ages.

If you've seen Marty Whelan trending and wondered why, I'm sorry to report it's not the return of Winning Streak as some may have hoped. The real reason is so much better.

It was a Sunday afternoon on Irish Twitter like any other. The rest of us were going about our business, discovering new meme formats and waiting for The Fear™ to set in when suddenly, something magical happened.

If you haven't yet consumed this thread with moustache'd enthusiasm, prepare yourselves. It's a humdinger.

Phil O'Kelly, wielder of the Marty tattoo was fated to be ordained with the ink after losing a fantasy football-related bet. The rules were as follows:

Via Phil O'Kelly, Twitter

Eventually, it was decided that if Phil lost the bet, his tattoo would be of cultural icon Marty Whelan. Obviously.

After an 'unbelievably tight' FF season (the details of which you can read summarised beautifully in Phil's thread), his opponent won the bet and his fate was sealed.

A conversation got underway with tattoo artist Kit at Live Fast Tattoos, who quickly shattered Phil's dreams of the ink being even remotely close to the size of a €2 coin.

Marty was about to become a huge part of Phil's life, whether he liked it or not. 

Phil and Kit eventually decided on a size and location for the tattoo, and not long after, the results were in.

Marty, douze points.

The man himself has since gotten wind of the ink based homage, sharing the portrait on his own Twitter this morning.

We can only hope there's a Marty in the Morning mug on its way to Phil right now.

Header image via Twitter/Marty Whelan/Phil O Kelly 

READ NEXT: Most Irish people want to share a daiquiri with Michael D Higgins, survey shows