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

Fiona Frawley

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.

So I lost a bet and had to get a Marty Whelan tattoo… pic.twitter.com/WBdNjGleJT

— Phil O’Kelly (@PhillyOKelly) August 14, 2022

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.

At the start I told him the most important thing was to capture his smile (I definitely didn't want a grumpy Marty on my leg forever more), and Kit absolutely nailed it. The pic will only get better as it settles down too pic.twitter.com/mzSJnk4qzu

— Phil O'Kelly (@PhillyOKelly) August 14, 2022