IRELAND’S FIRST WORLD Cup match held the attention of more than three-quarters of people who were watching TV in Ireland at the time, according to figures from RTÉ.

The broadcaster has confirmed that an average of 511,000 viewers were watching the game yesterday on RTÉ2.

The 11am match attracted a 77% share of TV viewers at the time.

“The streaming numbers and TV ratings from Thursday’s opening game demonstrate the growing support for the women’s national team as live audiences for women’s sport hit an all-time high,” RTÉ said in a statement. 

Some of 2022′s most-watched sport events were the All-Ireland Senior Football Final (872,000 views) and the the Fifa Men’s World Cup final (783,700).

On top of the RTÉ2 viewers, 360,000 people tuned in to stream the game live on the RTÉ Player, making it the most popular live event on the platform so far this year, according to RTÉ.  

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The online streams were second only to the Fifa Men’s World Cup final in November 2022, which attracted 490,000 streams as Argentina took on France. 

Australia narrowly defeated Ireland 1-0 yesterday in Sydney’s Accor Stadium.

Ireland’s next group match in the Women’s World Cup, which will be against Canada, is scheduled for Wednesday, 26 July at 1pm.