Last week Roy Keane spoke on podcast about his love of American football and he backed up his words by jetting in from Manchester for the Croke Park spectacular between the Pittsburgh Steelers, designated the home team, and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
The former Ireland and Manchester United captain seemed to enjoy the occasion and has stated that one of his aims is to attend the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.
He was one of a legion of Irish and British fans - Keane’s return plane flight to England was full of Manc Steelers’ followers - which shows how the game is spreading across the Atlantic.
It was a two-way ticket in some ways as Sports Illustrated majored on how Croke Park, particularly on All Ireland final day when Irish- American reporter Dan Gartland attended, is one of the great sporting occasions across world sport, claiming it was “the most remarkable sporting event he has ever attended.”
He arrived in Dublin in time for the Cork-Tipp All Ireland hurling final to conduct his field research on Sunday’s Gridiron clash.
And so the scene was set for a game which attracted 74,512 fans and saw the “home” team emerge victorious by 24-21. The huge crowd were kept right on the edge of their seats to the end as Kenneth Gainwell rushed for 99 yards and two touchdowns and Aaron Rodgers passed for another score in the winning colors.
The Vikings’ Justin Jefferson in possession. [Inpho/James Crombie]
The Pittsburgh ace completed 18 of 22 passes for a massive 200 yards to go along with one touchdown for Pittsburgh (3-1) and DK Metcalf caught five passes for an impressive 126 yards and a touchdown.
In fact the “home” following were kept on tenterhooks right to the very end as the Vikings showed great grit and determination to fight back and ended up scoring the last 15 points of the game to leave a field goal between the sides.
For many of the Irish and Europeans attending, it was more about the occasion than the game; but what an occasion and there is now every likelihood that a Croker game could become a fixture in the regular U.S. season.
