Against the odds:It wasn't widely known that Vinny Fitzpatrick was a cheesehead. The lads knew of Vinny's passion for cheese and onion crisps all right, and of his relentless commitment to Foley's toasted cheese sarnies smothered in Colman's finest mustard.

But apart from Macker, his best mate, no one was aware of Vinny's closet passion for the Green Bay Packers, whose supporters' nickname, cheeseheads, derived from the mountainous quantities of the stuff produced in their home state of Wisconsin.

As he settled in front of his telly on Saturday for the Packers play-off game with Seattle Seahawks - complete with a six-pack of draught stout and half a dozen packets of King crisps - Vinny recalled how he'd fallen under the spell of the cheeseheads.

He'd been in short pants when the Packers enjoyed their glory years under iconic coach Vince Lombardi in the 1960s, winning five NFL Championships that decade, including three in a row, and the first two Super Bowls, in 1966 and '67.

Vinny only became aware of their existence, and achievements, in the mid 1980s when Channel 4 started showing the live coverage of American football, culminating in the Super Bowl at the end of January.

Vinny loved the names - the 49ers, Redskins, Bengals, Vikings. The first Super Bowl he watched was in 1986 when the Chicago Bears, complete with Walter "Sweetness" Payton and William "The Fridge" Perry, swamped the New England Patriots.

Soon, Super Bowl mania swept Dublin and Vinny heard tales of Budweiser parties where everyone got jarred before the match began. He preferred to return from Foley's armed with a takeaway and follow the action at home.

Always something of a bookworm, Vinny became familiar with the rules of the game, the positions, plays, timeouts and the history. When he came across Lombardi, he was hooked.

Not only was the Brooklyn-born Lombardi a masterful motivator and tactician, he fired off quotable quotes in a scattergun approach. Vinny's favourite was the one about the Green Bay Packers who "never lost a match, they just ran out of time".

Lombardi made the Packers the most formidable unit in American football. Winning was everything to him, and the Packers won more often than anyone else. "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser," was another Lombardi line.

By the time Vinny came on board, just as the cheesehead phenomenon was taking off, the Packers were more calvita than brie.

Post Lombardi, the Packers had been awful, but Vinny and his fellow cheeseheads were rewarded when Brett Favre, a little-known quarter-back from Mississippi with a mix of French and Choctaw Indian blood, arrived in the wilds of Wisconsin in 1992.

Some 16 years on, Favre was still going strong in the green and gold. He'd led the cheeseheads to two Super Bowls, winning in 1996, and, most remarkably, had never missed a single Packers game.

As someone who hadn't missed a Sunday night session in Foley's himself in that time, Vinny admired Favre's tungsten-like durability.

It was nippy outside Vinny's modest mid-terrace home in Clontarf on Saturday night, but it was brass monkey weather in Green Bay as the wind whipped in off Lake Michigan and flakes of snow began to fall on Lambeau Field.

As Vinny let his first draught of stout settle, he checked the odds on Betfair. Green Bay were trading at 1.35, almost 4 to 7 on, while Seattle were at 3.8, nearly 3 to 1 against.

Convinced home field advantage, coupled with Favre's accuracy, made the Packers a certainty, Vinny lumped €50 on his heroes. "I'd put the mortgage on the cheeseheads, that's if I had a mortgage," smiled Vinny to himself, as he settled into his armchair.

Within four minutes, Vinny was in state of utter shock. So paralysed by what he'd witnessed that he hadn't even taken a sip of stout, or reached for his first bag of crisps.

He blinked unbelievingly at his telly. Seattle were winning 14-0. "Jaysus, what's happening?" he said softly. Two plays, two errors from receiver Ryan Grant, two touchdowns for Seattle.

On the Betfair exchanges, Seattle were now at 1.5, or 4 to 6, while the Packers were out to 2.68, better than 6 to 4. Vinny tried to think straight. Should he dip into his coffers, or should he let the stake ride?

Usually adept at separating heart from head when it came to betting, Vinny knew that 6 to 4 was a great price for the Packers, and that Favre had loads of time to turn the game around.

His finger hovered on the "place bet" column: another 50 wouldn't kill him, not after his racing coup the previous week. "Better wait for another play or two," he thought, holding back.

Three minutes later, Favre threw for a touchdown, 14-7. Then he challenged the umpires on a crucial first down call. TV replays showed Green Bay had got the necessary yardage; they kept the ball, and Grant soon crossed for a touchdown: 14-14 at the end of a white-knuckle first quarter.

A quick glance at the in running prices confirmed Vinny's fears. Green Bay were at 1.39, roughly 4 to 7, and Seattle had drifted to 3.5, or 5 to 2. "You had your chance Fitzpatrick," muttered Vinny as he angrily pulled the ring from a can of stout, splashing himself with flecks of foam.

Still, there was a ball game to be won and Vinny immersed himself in cheesehead mode. By half-time, the Packers led 28-17 and snow was carpeting Lambeau Field. Great stuff, thought Vinny.

As tractor ploughs cleared the playing area, Vinny knew the game was up. This kind of weather wouldn't discommode Favre and Co; he knew it, and Seattle knew it too.

Leading 35-20 going into the final quarter, the Packers were a prohibitive 1.07 with Seattle at 12. A fourth touchdown for the Packers put the game beyond reach and when Vinny had a last squint at his lap-top, Seattle were trading at 500.

As he poured his final can, Vinny felt Vince Lombardi would have approved of the way the Packers had climbed back off the canvas. As Lombardi had put it: "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."

It was an expression that summed up the Packers, thought Vinny, and one he would use as for his own inspiration when Angie returned to work in Boru Betting this week.

At 50, Vinny Fitzpatrick's life was a crossroads. Deep down, he knew which way he wanted to go.

2pts Sublimity to win AIG Champion Hurdle (4/1 Boylesports)

2pts Everton to finish fourth in Premier League (5/1 Coral)

2pts Lay Roger Federer (right) and Rafael Nadal to reach Australian Open final (7/2 Paddy Power, Liability 5pts)