Midway through the second quarter of the first-ever NFL regular season game in Ireland, House of Pain’s Jump Around blasted through Croke Park.

Carson Wentz had just been picked off by Pittsburgh strong safety DeShon Elliott in what had been a painful half to that point for the Vikings quarterback. The Steelers were in his face all day long, racking up six sacks on a momentous day in Ireland’s capital. The difference makers in this contest were two turnovers given up by Minnesota, coupled with the relentless pressure that T.J. Watt & Co inflicted on the QB. Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers was flawless, completing 18 of 22 passes for a solid 200 yards.

Oftentimes in the international match-ups, the supposed ‘home’ game doesn’t always feel that way. Today, it felt — and resounded — like Steelers home turf. There were Terrible Towels aplenty from the off, and the crowd noise definitely played a factor in affecting the Vikings’ offense.

The last time the Steelers played overseas was almost 12 years to the day against the very same opponent. That quarterback duel was Ben Roethlisberger versus Matt Cassel, with the latter guiding the guys in purple to a win. This time around, it never really felt like there could be a repeat until the Vikings started clawing themselves back into the game late in the fourth quarter.

Not long after local Irish musician LYRA gave a spell-binding rendition of the Irish anthem, the Steelers emerged from the tunnel like men possessed. After a three-and-out from Rodgers to start, the Vikings settled into the game well. The Steelers then seemed to have role-reversed Brian Flores’s antics from last week’s blowout of Cincinnati, stripping the ball for a Jalen Ramsey touchdown, which sent the 74,000 plus crowd into a frenzy — until the play was called back, to the dismay of the Steeler faithful, after a questionable out of bounds call by the officials.

The Vikings, however, could not capitalise on their good fortune, with Patrick Queen dumping Wentz violently on third down. Although the Vikings salvaged a field goal, it would be their only lead of the day.

Rodgers responded with a flawless passing performance on the next drive which culminated in Kenneth Gainwell’s one-yard rushing TD, the running back having stepped in late for the injured Jaylen Warren. Gainwell had a monster of an afternoon, racking up 99 yards with over five per carry, but the game was bust right open when, with just over 12 minutes left in the half, Rodgers hit D.K. Metcalf across the middle, with the receiver proceeding to leave the Vikings secondary in his wake for an 80-yard touchdown.

It felt like the game was already getting out of hand for Minnesota, and the Steelers appeared set to go three scores up until Rodgers got tossed to the ground by Jalen Redmond and the usually reliable Chris Boswell had a chip-shot field goal blocked.

The Vikings could not take this momentum into the second half, however, and continued to struggle for any offensive rhythm for most of the day. Then, the most pivotal defensive play of the afternoon landed another punch as, following yet another sack, Watt plucked a Wentz pass out of the air on 3rd-and-16, snuffing out any further forward progress. Croke Park was in delirium. The Steelers proceeded to punch it in with another Gainwell TD as time started to ebb away in the third quarter. The score made it 24-6 Steelers and you struggled to see a path back for Minnesota.

Yet, with the Steelers’ secondary getting increasingly banged up, including Ramsey suffering a hamstring injury, the Vikings refused to go out quietly. Running back Zavier Scott caught a toe-tapper at the back of the endzone and, with the two-point conversion, it was 24-14 with just under eight minutes left to play. Energised, the Vikings stopped the Steelers on fourth down, before Wentz hit Jordan Addison for an 81-yard reception, only for the receiver — back in his first game since suspension —to be tripped up at the two yard line. Undeterred, Wentz hit Jalen Nailor with a short pass for the touchdown to close to within a single score.

The Vikings got the ball back again with less than a minute on the clock, after the Steelers opted to take a delay of game penalty and punt when only needing a yard for the first down that would have sealed the deal, but could not move the chains on a wayward Wentz pass on 4th-and-17 as he looked to move closer to Will Reichert field goal territory.

The Steelers may have made hard work of it in the final phases, but it seemed only fitting that they edged this one with so many deep ties to the island.