GAELIC FOOTBALL VIEWING FIGURES:TG4 YESTERDAY helped to explain the poor attendance at last Sunday's National Football League finals in Croke Park when they announced an average of 307,000 tuned into their live coverage.
Only 36,438 showed up at GAA HQ as Cork beat Dublin and Donegal overcame Laois in the Division One and Two finals.
The GAA had hoped the presence of the Dublin footballers in a national final would attract over 50,000 spectators.
The official viewing figures, supplied by Nielsen, were 2,000 shy of the highest ever TG4 audience – the 2007 National Hurling League final when Waterford beat Kilkenny in Thurles.
“It is worth noting that the Nielsen systems only measures domestic viewership and does not include those watching in pubs, clubs,” added the TG4 statement.
A smaller crowd is expected to attend Croke Park this Sunday for the double header of the National Hurling League final between Kilkenny and Dublin, and the All-Ireland under-21 football final between Galway and Cavan.
Galway manager Alan Mulholland last night named an unchanged side from that which impressively defeated Cork in the semi-final.
GALWAY: M Breathnach; G Sweeney, C Forde, A Tierney; J Moore, J Duane, T Fahy; T Flynn, F O Curraoin; C Doherty, M Hehir, M Boyle; D Cummins, P Sweeney, E Monahan.
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