ALL BETTIS ARE OFF NOW

JEROME BETTIS remembers his first visit to Ireland well and he vividly recalls the message from the owners.

- BY PADDY TIERNEY

This may have been a preseason game, but the Pittsburgh Steelers were in town to win.

It was 1997 and Dublin was a different city to what it is now.

Croke Park was in the process of being reimagined, with the brand new Cusack Stand open for business before the Canal End and Hogan Stand were completed in subsequent years.

The ancestral home of the Rooney family, who own the Steelers, is in Newry.

In the 1990s, the franchise was headed by Dan Rooney, son of Art Rooney who founded the Steelers in 1933.

The Rooney family have never forgotten their Irish roots.

The Chicago Bears were the opposition in ‘97 and, even though it was a preseason game, Bettis said the players had a “mandate” to win the game.

He feels coach Mike Tomlin will have a similar message for his players when they run out onto the hallowed turf of Croke Park to face the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in what will be the first regular season NFL to be held in Ireland.

“Mrs (Patricia) Rooney, when she was alive, her goal was to win that game (in 1997) - she told her husband, the late Dan Rooney, we have to win the trophy’ said Bettis, who ran in for a touchdown against the Bears.