Trips to Foley's for the Sunday session, the Tuesday Night Club and the Off The Cuff pint: are they all to become a distant memory?

THE INCURSION into the Rhineland by an elite corps of Foley's finest commandos, was a far less eventful affair than that of 1935 when the German army reclaimed territory they felt was theirs, thus igniting the fuse which led to the second World War.

"We're here for a stag, not the Reichstag," observed Vinny Fitzpatrick as the Ryanair flight touched down in Frankfurt-Hahn airport before midday on Saturday morning.

There were six members of the raiding party, headed by Macker, who had overseen a covert operation to ensure Vinny's send-off as a single man was fitting of the esteem in which he was held by his friends.

Acting on a tip-off from a hack who frequented Foley's, Macker had got the heads-up on Mainz as the venue for Ireland's World Cup match with Georgia and had secured return flights for under €100 a head before Ryanair shot up the prices.

As the regular taxi driver for one of the FAI blazers, Macker had been reliably informed he could purchase tickets at the ground on match day.

To round off the grand scheme, he'd booked three twin rooms in a three-star Mainz hotel before telling the lads, including Fran with whom things were a mite estranged, of his plans.

"Look, I don't care what you are doing on Saturday, drop it. It's Vinny's first and last stag. Be at the airport for eight bells. We'll be back on Sunday in time for the hurling final," he'd barked.

At 50, Vinny's meandering bachelor path was about to come to a shuddering, joyous, halt with his forthcoming marriage to Angie, the strikingly attractive manager of Boru Betting whom, it was agreed by all, was a class act.

The runaway nature of the liaison had surprised everyone, mostly Vinny, and if there had been one or two misunderstandings over the summer - one in particular made him squirm with embarrassment - all was sweetness and light, especially now that Angie and her beau had reached the semi-finals of the Clontarf tennis championships.

Vinny was the last to hear about Germany calling and while he had been gobsmacked, he was also thrilled as he had never seen Ireland play away from home.

Having organised a swap for his Sunday shift on the 27, Vinny's final act before packing his overnight hold-all - he had a battered Gola bag from the 70s which did the trick nicely - was to place a bet, on-line.

Paddy Power were offering 28 to 1 on a 2-0 win for Ireland with Kevin Doyle to score first.

"That'll do for me," said Vinny, placing a €50 bet and feeling that recognizable tingle in his fingers and toes as he did so.

The first of the day's many sweeps, all for €5 a man, had been to guess the length of the flight to Germany.

Factoring in the prevailing west wind, and that Frankfurt-Hahn was closer to Luxembourg than Frankfurt, Vinny had gone low, 82 minutes, and won handily.

The next sweep was on how long it would take to the bus shuttle to get to Mainz.

A keen student of cartography, Vinny felt it would take the same time as the flight and went for a cheeky repeat, 82 minutes, only for Brennie to collect with a dead-eye 76.

Knocking back cans of Bitburger lager as they crossed the Rhine, Vinny spied signs for Wiesbaden where the Irish team was staying.

He wondered did Giovanni Trapattoni know that Wiesbaden was where Elvis Presley had met Priscilla and where John McEnroe was born.

In Mainz, the gear was quickly chucked into the hotel and the lads hit a local boozer, Eberneezer's, for a few swift halves before the game.

Predictably, there was a full-blooded discourse on the Irish team selection and whether Andy Reid should be playing or not - only Vinny and Shanghai Jimmy felt Trap was right to leave him out. "It's about the system, not the players," said Shanghai whose shakes, Vinny noticed, were getting worse.

For the match sweep, five of the lads went for an Irish win. Only Kojak, cussed as usual, had bucked the trend with a scoreless draw. Vinny had stayed with 2-0 and gone for an early goal, in the 14th minute.

It was, he would reflect later, so close to being a day of all days.

While the match had been fascinating, the gambler in Vinny never relinquished its grip, not from the moment Doyle headed the lead goal in the 13th minute.

"A second goal and I'm home and hosed at 28 to 1," he thought. When Glenn Whelan's shot was spilled by the keeper in the second half, Vinny erupted. "Lads, I've €1,400 coming if it stays like this." It almost did, until the final 30 seconds of the game when Georgia scored with their first shot on goal. Vinny was gutted; he'd lost his bet, and the sweep.

Two hours later, as Macker called for six pints of Bitburger back in Eberneezer's, the clouds of despair had cleared, the craic had kicked in, and Vinny had recovered sufficiently to reflect on life through a half-full glass, rather than a half-empty one.

As he looked at the glowing, happy, faces around him, he thought how lucky he was to have such stalwart friends.

Never mind what was going on in their personal lives; when they got together for a beer, a bet and some blathering about sport, what could be better?

That they should be doing all this while on a trip to watch the Ireland football team play a World Cup qualifier only heightened the deep affection he felt for them.

Going forward, as those bright sparks liked to say, he wondered what would happen after he went down the aisle and a wedding ring was placed on his pudgy finger.

Would Angie restrict his trips to Foley's, for the Sunday session, the 'Tuesday Night Club' and the always popular 'Off The Cuff' pint? He hoped not, as they had become an integral part of his life, and one that he didn't think he could do without.

He loved Angie to bits but could he forego the company of the lads in Foley's, even cut back on his visits? 'Jeepers, that would be hard,' he thought to himself.

For the first time, Vinny Fitzpatrick felt a little scared about the huge jump he was about to take.

BETS OF THE WEEK

3pts Ireland and Montenegro to draw (9/4, Ladbrokes)

1pt ew Robert Karlsson (16-1) in Mercedes-Benz Championship (Paddy Power)

VINNY'S BISMARK

3pt Lay Cardiff to beat Neath Ospreys with 8-pt start (Evens, liability 3pts)