The Pittsburgh Steelers held on for an exhilarating 24-21 win over the Minnesota Vikings because the NFL staged a historic sport at Dublin’s Croke Park on Sunday.
The Steelers led 21-6 going into the ultimate quarter however the Vikings claimed two touchdowns to arrange a nail-biting finale within the first regular-season sport to be held in Eire.
However Pittsburgh ensured it was a triumphant homecoming for the workforce house owners, the Rooney household, whose ancestors emigrated from the island of Eire to Pennsylvania within the 1840s.
They’ve maintained shut hyperlinks to their Irish roots, bringing a pre-season sport to Croke Park in 1997, and so they had been once more the driving power behind the NFL’s return to the house of the Gaelic Athletic Affiliation (GAA).
The Steelers had been the designated dwelling workforce and so they loved raucous help from the vast majority of the 74,512 crowd as they charged right into a 14-6 lead at half-time.
Kenneth Gainwell ran in two touchdowns for Pittsburgh however the play of the day got here from DK Metcalf, who took a move from quarterback Aaron Rodgers and produced a barnstorming run to power it in for an 80-yard landing.
Pittsburgh added a discipline purpose early within the fourth quarter earlier than two quickfire scores from Zavier Scott and Jalen Nailor meant the Steelers’ Irish followers and travelling supporters needed to put the celebrations on maintain.
