
Football
Share
Published 13:14 13 Jan 2017 GMT
Explore more on these topics:
Two weeks after Joe Schmidt's men beat the All Blacks in Chicago, the sport hit peak interest in the country for the calendar year with a record number of viewers watching the return game at the Aviva which the visitors won 21-9.
By contrast, almost 1.3million people watched Ireland v France in the second round of Euro 2016.
And that's just in the Republic.
There were two other rugby matches to feature in the top 20 - Ireland v France and Ireland v England in the Six Nations - but none of them hit the numbers that even Portugal v Wales did in the European Championships.
The Euro 2016 final was also ahead in the list, with almost 783,000 people watching Portugal beat France in Paris.
Nine sporting occasions made up the top 10 with only The Late Late Toy Show joining them - at the top of the list albeit.
Rugby was none of those nine.
Sporting events that trumped rugby on TV in 2016
The Six Nations will be hoping to topple Room To Improve off its perch in 2017.
PS. Can people please stop watching Mrs Brown's Boys?Mykhailo Mudryk given maximum punishment for anti-doping offence
He has learnt his shocking fate Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has discovered his punishment after being charged by the Football Association over anti-doping offences, as reported first by the journalist Ben Jacobs. The Ukrainian forward last played for the Blues in 2024, just a year after he had joined the London club from Shakhtar Donetsk in […]
Football
59 min
Irish pundit has bizarrely contrarian take after PSG v Bayern classic
Not sure about this one…. Before the whistle for the end of the first half between PSG and Bayern Munich last night, the game was already being regarded as one of the greatest in the history of European football. It was end-to-end stuff, with a massive amount of high-quality attacking play; eventually finishing 5-4 to […]
Football
7h
Football
The FA Cup: Follow all of the action in our viral moments hub
Football