Paddy (99) cheering the Hoops to victory in the Champions League

A MAN who is on the cusp of his 100th birthday was in attendance at Tallaght Stadium, watching his beloved Shamrock Rovers live for the first time in 38-years alongside his grandson.

It was a big occasion on a couple of fronts.

The Hoops were vying for a place in the UEFA Champions League in a qualifier against Hibernians. And Paddy Linnie (99) saw the green and white striped outfit for the first time since the Milltown days.

Originally from Newry, Co Down, Paddy moved to the Liberties in Dublin to join the Irish Army as a young man and immediately developed a grá for Rovers and Milltown – attending his first match in 1944.

“My grandfather cycled all the time from the Liberties out to Milltown to watch Rovers,” Paddy’s grandson, Aaron Tuite, tells The Echo.

“He’d leave his bike on a pole, go in to watch the game and then jump back on the bike to head home.

“The last game he was ever at was out in Dalymount Park actually, I was playing for Rovers reserves at the time.

Paddy Linnie (99)

“But the Milltown days were coming to an end at that stage, it was 1984, he had the seven kids, and he sort of lost interest with all the moving around and sharing grounds.”

While Shamrock Rovers were homeless between 1987 and 2009, Paddy supported the squad from afar and never managed to get to Tallaght Stadium.

That was until Tuesday night, when Shamrock Rovers had their massive Champions League game against the Maltese champions.

“We had an amazing time. The people at Shamrock Rovers were absolutely fantastic with us,” Aaron tells The Echo.

“He felt like the Lord Mayor going into Tallaght Stadium. To be almost 56 and going to a game with your grandfather, who is almost a hundred, is bizarre when you think of it.

“His physical fitness is still great and his mentality, he has a great mentality.

“I had said to him that we might leave 10-minutes early just to beat the traffic and he says to me ‘hopefully we get another goal before then’.

“And they got the third then before we left – that’s his whole mentality.”

Stephen Bradley’s outfit got the result they desired, with Ronan Finn and Dylan Watts scoring in the first half and Rory Gaffney netting with 12-minutes left on the clock.

This sets the Hoops up with a 3-0 lead on aggregate heading to face Hibernians in Malta in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League first round qualifier on July 12.

“He’s not going to be around forever, I think I’ll look back on this night in a few years and realise that it was meant to happen,” Aaron said.

Paddy, who is now 99, lives in Walkinstown, has seven children and his family has Rovers in their blood. His grandson Aaron was a Rovers reserve player in the 1980s during the famous four-in-a-row era and his great grandson Jordan captained an Under 16s team in the club during a tournament in Italy in 2010.

The fifth generation of the Linnie-Tuite family is due next week, with Paddy’s great-great granddaughter almost guaranteed to be a Hoop fan as well.