Women’s football final broke TG4 viewing records

Dublin’s win over Mayo was also the best attended women’s sports event in Europe

Dublin celebrate with the Brendan Martin Cup following the TG4 Ladies Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final at Croke Park. Photo: Cody Glenn/Sportsfile
Dublin celebrate with the Brendan Martin Cup following the TG4 Ladies Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final at Croke Park. Photo: Cody Glenn/Sportsfile

After breaking attendance records for a women’s sporting event in Europe this year, Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC final between Dublin and Mayo also set new TG4 records with an average of 303,800 people tuning in – the highest figure since the station started broadcasting women’s finals in 2001.

Viewing peaked at 5.24pm when 409,700 people were tuning in to see Dublin claim their first title in seven years and the broadcast reached 563,000 viewers in total, taking 40 per cent of the viewing around the country.

The 2013 final between Cork and Monaghan was the previous highest in terms of viewing figures for the station with an average of 234,700 – eclipsed by almost 70,000 this time around.

46, 286 peope turned out to Croke Park to watch Dublin and Tipperary lift the senior and intermediate crowns respectively, while the junior decider between Fermanagh and Derry went to a replay.

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The attendance at Croke Park was over 11,000 more than the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley in England and more than the combined total of all Women’s Rugby World Cup matches which were held in Ireland last month.

Last week’s men’s final also drew record figures on RTÉ with 1.3 million people watching as Dean Rock kicked Dublin to a third All-Ireland title in a row.

Ruaidhrí Croke

Ruaidhrí Croke

Ruaidhrí Croke is a sports journalist with The Irish Times