Marty Whelan has said he is “honoured and flattered” after he discovered someone got a tattoo of his face on his leg.
Phil O’Kelly revealed on Twitter how he had lost a bet in Fantasy Football and had to get a tattoo of the popular Winning Streak presenter as a result.
Speaking on Marty’s Lyric FM radio show, Phil revealed the seven-inch tattoo is a “great conversation starter”.
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He explained: “Foolishly I made a bet with my friend Tom at the start of the football season”, to which Marty quipped: “This is a fantasy football thing you do?”.
Phil, who works for Spinal Injuries Ireland, went on to say: “He made the offer, I said no. I thought it was a crazy idea and then a couple of weeks later and I had a few more pints in me so I decided 'do you know that might be a good idea.' So we did it for the season, it went to the wire and he pipped me on the last day.”
But Phil admitted he didn’t choose Marty as his tattoo but instead it was his pal.
The ink is seven inches on his leg, with Phil admitting: “I was suggesting to get a lot smaller, but we wouldn’t have caught the sparkle in your eyes.”
Asked was it sore, he told Marty: “No, it’s like a big graze on my leg but it’s actually grand now.”
Phil first revealed he was getting a tattoo of the star on his Twitter over the weekend at Kit McDermott’s Temple Bar tattoo parlour, Live Fast Tattoos, after losing the bet with his pal.
He wrote: “Lots of debate amongst our group of mates as to what the tattoos should be, but eventually we settled on Marty Whelan for me and a lion for @LeHuss (It's from a beer in Burkina Faso. I got a tatt of this years ago and have been slagged ever since for being sponsored by Disney).”
Sharing a series of photos of Marty, Phil noted that there was “no shortage of suggestions” for pictures of Marty. He added: “The man, after all, is extremely photogenic... An icon... A legend...
“But @LeHuss had his heart set. There could be only one. Classic Marty.”
The process took three and a half hours, or 210 minutes in total, to completion.
Marty said: "I'm strangely flattered, such bravery from Phil," later adding that he was "honoured" to be on Phil's leg forever.
And Phil admitted he thinks the tattoo will be a “good conversation starter”.
Marty said he was “honoured” by the gesture, saying: “I don’t think any of my colleagues have had this bestowed upon them.”
“Even my wife wouldn’t get a tattoo and she’s quite fond of me,” he said laughing.
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