Dublin victory watched by over one million

TV VIEWING FIGURES:DUBLIN'S RETURN to the summit of Gaelic football after 16 years proved, by some margin, the most popular sports programme on Irish television last year.

Their victory over Kerry in the All-Ireland final on September 18th was watched by 1,085,200, an almost 69 per cent share of the market, trumping Kilkenny’s victory over Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling decider by over 238,000 viewers.

Dublin’s narrow semi-final victory over Donegal made it a top three for Gaelic games, with an audience of just over 700,000, while the second football semi-final between Kerry and Mayo came in eighth in the rankings with 569,300.

The early morning starts at the Rugby World Cup affected viewing figures, with Ireland’s Six Nations clash at home to England coming in at number five with 690,400 viewers.

Surprisingly, the top World Cup game proved to be the pool clash against Italy (631,900), with the 6am Saturday morning start to the quarter-final defeat to Wales meaning it did not make the top 10.

The Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifier victory over Estonia broke the stranglehold on the top 10 of Gaelic games and rugby, with the home tie coming in fifth with 649,000, while the away leg in Tallinn – where Ireland earned a 4-0 victory to effectively secure their place in next year’s Championships – was watched by just under 600,000.

All 10 of the most-watched sports programmes were broadcast by RTÉ.

Tuning in: Top 10 sports broadcasts of 2011

1 All-Ireland football final, Dublin v Kerry, September 18th: 1,085,200

2 All-Ireland hurling final, Kilkenny v Tipperary, September 4th: 847,000

3 All-Ireland football semi-final, Dublin v Donegal, August 28th: 700,500

4 Six Nations, Ireland v England, March 19th: 690,400

5 Euro 2012 play-off, Republic of Ireland v Estonia, November 15th: 649,000

6 Rugby World Cup, Ireland v Italy, October 2nd: 631,600

7 Euro 2012 play-off, Estonia v Republic of Ireland, November 11th: 599,500

8 All-Ireland Football semi-final, Kerry v Mayo, August 21st: 569,300

9 Rugby World Cup, Australia v Ireland, September 17th: 545,600

10 Six Nations, Ireland v France, February 13th: 544,100