RTÉ drew combined peak of 792,000

Championship 2007: Audience figures from RTÉ indicate the Munster hurling clash between Cork and Waterford attracted the biggest…

Championship 2007:Audience figures from RTÉ indicate the Munster hurling clash between Cork and Waterford attracted the biggest viewership of Sunday afternoon. The match from Thurles was broadcast on RTÉ 2 at the same as the Dublin-Meath replay from Croke Park, which went out on RTÉ 1.

Whereas the hurling drew an audience of 342,000, the football attracted 285,000. RTÉ were big winners with the station's decision to show Gaelic games across its channels taking 70 per cent of the television audience on Sunday afternoon.

The combined audience for the two matches peaked at 792,000. Cork-Waterford peaked at 513,000 and Dublin-Meath peaked at 647,000 - presumably for the last 15 minutes when the hurling match had ended.

Earlier, before the other two matches were broadcast simultaneously, the Ulster football clash between Tyrone and Donegal was watched by an average of 298,000, peaking at 406,000.

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Not surprisingly - given its prime time slot at 6.30 on Saturday evening - the Munster hurling replay between Tipperary and Limerick claimed the biggest audience of the weekend, an average of 360,000, which peaked at 564,000 viewers.

The Sunday Game highlights programme on RTÉ 2 attracted the highest viewership of the series so far with an average of 288,000, climbing to a peak audience of 374,000.

Meanwhile, the Leinster Council are expecting about 70,000 to attend Sunday's provincial football semi-final at Croke Park between champions Dublin and last year's finalists Offaly.

"I would have said this morning that the figure would be about 60,000," according to Leinster secretary Michael Delaney, "but judging by the demand since I'd imagine you'll be talking about nearer to 70,000."

The 82,000 attendance for Dublin-Meath were well up on the counties' previous meetings this decade, which averaged about 65,000.

"The reason they were upped," said Delaney, "is to do with Meath. Their followers had more faith in this team and responded. There were also good crowds from Louth, about 8,000-10,000 on Sunday."

Galway corner back Damien Burke has been honoured for his great display for Galway in their Connacht first-round win over Mayo with his selection as the Connacht GAA Writers' Personality of the Month Award for May. The Corofin defender was one of the key reasons why Galway relieved last year's All-Ireland finalists of their Connacht title.

Seán Moran

Seán Moran

Seán Moran is GAA Correspondent of The Irish Times