AGAINST THE ODDS:Our hero is back in the groove as his team Bohemians land the cup and he celebrates a nice touch, writes RODDY L'ESTRANGE

‘IS THIS the Daniel Day or the Jerry Lee?” grinned the burly youth at the head of a posse of red-and-white St Pat’s fans who rolled on to the Luas at the Suir Road stop on Saturday afternoon. “It’s the Jerry Lee, the other one is for the rugger buggers,” replied a bearded Bohs supporter.

“Bugger ’em is right,” said the Saint as he flicked open the ring of a can of cheap lager and let out a bellow. “C’mon you Super Saints.”

Sitting quietly in a corner of the carriage, observing in that understated, Miss Marple way of his, was Vinny Fitzpatrick. The 52-year-old was on his way to Tallaght Stadium to see his beloved Bohs in the Setanta Cup final, or Santa Cup, as the lads around him kept calling it.

On Angie’s advice, he had agreed on a solo run as it meant he was less likely to be led astray than if he were part of a gargle-guzzling wrecking crew.

(He knew if he’d rung Fran that the statuesque Lithuanian lovely Petra, who worked in Bubbles On The Bull, would have come on board, and God knows where that would have ended up.)

A Bohs man to the core, Vinny had his old red-and-black scarf tucked discreetly under his oxter, just in case any trouble broke out and he was identified as a Gypsy.

Not that it would, certainly not pre-match, as fans, mostly male and mostly under 30, mingled contentedly as the Luas wormed its way southwest out of the city.

Vinny felt League of Ireland fans had something of a reputation that was undeserved. In his 40 years going to Bohs games, he could recall only two ugly flashpoints, and that involved violent thugs attached to Glasgow Rangers and Newcastle United on big European nights at Dalyer.

The recent ructions at Oriel Park involving a handful of Shamrock Rovers supporters had given the league bad press, but Vinny felt the trouble could have been avoided with an early kick-off and more stewarding.

Instead, the Bank Holiday Monday meant lads were off work and had time to get steamed up with drink – an eruption was only one controversial refereeing decision away.

As the Luas trundled slowly out along the Naas Road, Vinny felt a more suitable nickname would be the “snail on the rail”, as the trek from Busáras to Tallaght took almost 50 minutes, which Vinny felt was at least 10 minutes too long.

A motorbike would cover the distance in 20 minutes, a car in half an hour. Even Dublin Bus could do it in 40. The Luas, he felt, was built for comfort, not speed. “A bit like myself,” he thought.

Vinny was looking forward to seeing Bohs again, mostly because he had a fair whack riding on the outcome.

He’d invested €20 on Chelsea (1 to 5), Dundee United (4 to 6) and Bohs (4 to 5) in a cup-winning treble and the first two legs had come up. He’d also put another score on Bohs at 11 to 2 to win 1-0 in 90 minutes.

For fun, he had a tenner on Tallaght local Jason Byrne to score the first goal at 4 to 1.

He was enjoying punting again since he’d keeled over with a dickey heart more than two months ago, and he regarded the investment procedure as part of his therapy. He certainly felt better knowing there was money resting on the outcome.

As if on cue, his sausage-like fingers tingled with excitement, as they always did whenever he tuned into gambling mode.

That he could feel all 10 digits indicated how far he was on the road to recovery – barely a month ago, he’d been half-dragging his leg and unable to uncurl his left hand. Now, he could root around his cavernous nostril with his left forefinger. Magnificent.

Alighting the Luas, Vinny got his first sight of Tallaght Stadium. Unlike the Aviva, it didn’t look like a bed pan, but was made up of twin stands and was open-ended behind the goals. “It’ll be grand when it’s finished,” he thought.

The capacity of 6,000 was ideal for the Santa Cup, which didn’t carry the same status as the FAI Cup, but had already left the League Cup in the shade.

Inside, Vinny spied a few wrinkly Bohs diehards dotted among the callow colts in red-and-black, noting disapprovingly that the Saints storm-troopers on the far side greatly outnumbered the ranks of Bohs men.

“Typical League of Ireland,” he thought. “Because Bohs are winning left, right and centre, their numbers drop. The Saints haven’t had a pot to pee in for years and they’ve got an army behind them.”

Two hours later, the “army” was leaving the battlefield empty-handed, yet again, after Bohs had collected their fifth trophy under their driven manager Pat Fenlon. Vinny noted that he’d be collecting too, thanks to the 1-0 outcome, and the cup-winning treble.

Waiting for the presentation, Vinny was munching an overpriced burger and lamenting the absence of Burdock’s fish and chips, when a Bohs fan close by raised his voice and jabbed a finger angrily in the direction of the VIP section in the stand.

Vinny looked back and spied the tall figure of FAI chief executive John Delaney at the back of the VIP area. He knew Delaney from his picture in the papers and regular appearances on TV.

He’d even heard him on the radio the other morning saying how he and the late Gerry Ryan were due to catch up for dinner. Delaney was clearly well-connected, thought Vinny.

The disgruntled Bohs fan unleashed another bout of heckling, which was less than complimentary about the FAI for refusing Limerick permission to play Barcelona.

Now that was a quare one, thought Vinny.

Here was a once mighty club – Vinny had been there when Limerick beat Bohs in the 1982 Cup final – whose backside was sticking out of their trousers yet had somehow lined up the might of Barcelona to play at Thomond Park. If that was bizarre, that the FAI were refusing to let the Spanish champions in to play was even more so.

To the neutral, the FAI were coming across as playground bullies.

He wondered how the IRFU felt about Thomond Park losing out on revenue, given the rugby people’s goodwill towards the FAI over co-ownership of the Aviva Stadium.

As Vinny shuffled out of Tallaght Stadium, he reflected that, for John Delaney’s sake, it was perhaps just as well he wasn’t riding the Luas back to town.

Bets of the week

3pts Inter Milan to beat Bayern Munich in Champions League final (13/10, Betfred)

2pts each-way Lee Westwood in PGA Championship (12/1, Ladbrokes)

Vinny’s Bismarck

1pt Lay Antrim to beat Tyrone in Ulster SFC (10/3, Paddy Power, liability 3 1/3 pts)