Over half a million people tune in for Ireland's World Cup opener with Australia

Denise O'Sullivan after Ireland's defeat to Australia. More than half a million people watched the game on RTÉ. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

More than 500,000 people tuned in to RTÉ2 to watch the Republic of Ireland's Women's World Cup opener with Australia on Thursday.

The Girls in Green were defeated thanks to a Steph Catley penalty early in the second half in their first-ever match at a World Cup finals.

Thousands of Irish had made the journey to Sydney to support the team in the stadium - and we now know that that support was reflected domestically on TV.

RTÉ told the Irish Examiner that an average of 511,000 viewers watched the game on RTÉ2 - which equated to 77% share of the people watching TV - and there were a further 360,000 streams on the RTÉ Player.

An RTÉ spokesperson explained: "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.

"The first of the Republic of Ireland’s three group games is the second highest streamed live sporting match on the RTÉ Player, with the FIFA Men’s World Cup final in November 2022 having generated 490,000 streams."

Ireland's next group game is on Wednesday afternoon at 1pm against Olympic champions Canada.

RTÉ will also broadcast that game.

They faced heavy criticism on Thursday after the first half of the game was plagued with issues relating to the commentary feed.

Commentators George Hamilton and Stephanie Roche, who were in Sydney's Olympic Stadium, were broadcasting live, but they were around 10 to 15 seconds ahead of what we were seeing on the screen.