744,000 tune in to football showpiece

ALMOST three quarters of a million people in Ireland tuned in to RTÉ’s coverage of the All-Ireland minor and senior football finals, making it the most watched sports event on Irish television this year.

More than 744,000 tuned into The Sunday Game Live as Tyrone and Kerry captured the MFC and SFC titles respectively.

The figure, which garnered 70% of the audience share, was slightly up on last year's decider.

"We are very happy with the figures for the football at the weekend, which is slightly up on last year," a station spokesperson said yesterday.

"We are revamping Network 2 to RTÉ 2 and we see sport as one of the foundation stones of our schedule and it is very important to the new format," she added.

The championship has been a massive audience winner for station in 2004.

GAA dominated the top three positions in viewership as the SHC final decider between Cork and Kilkenny was watched by received an audience of 705,000 people, while 539,000 viewers tuned in for the semi-final meeting of the Cats and Munster champions Waterford. Six championship games were in the top ten.

Internationally, more than 200,000 watched the games worldwide on the Setanta network in the UK, North America, Australia, Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, GAA president Sean Kelly has pledged to freeze the price of All-Ireland final tickets next season.

Mr Kelly confirmed yesterday stand tickets will remain at €60 in 2005, with tickets for the revamped Hill 16 at €30.

He also revealed the Association is to appoint a new ticketing administrator to streamline the entire and controversial distribution system.

"With his/her expertise, we will be utilising modern technology to review the allocation process," said Mr Kelly.