LAST UPDATE | 2 Dec 2024

THE LEAGUE OF Ireland has announced that the average TV viewership for the Premier Division action this year, rose 42% compared to last year’s figures.

Across 29 games on RTÉ and Virgin Media Television in the men’s Premier Division, there was an average peak of 115,246 viewers for the season rising from 81,922 in 2023. The mean average audience for games in the top flight increased from 48,863 to 69,461.

With a rise in the number of televised games, a total of 4.2 million views of televised fixtures across the League of Ireland, Sports Direct Men’s and Women’s FAI Cups and Avenir Sports All-Island Cup. This is an increase of 35% from 3.1 million in 2023.

Average TV viewership for the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division also rose 70% from 8,536 to 14,533 on TG4 with the average peak audience jumping from 24,009 to 33,608 this season.

The most watched game across the League was Shelbourne’s dramatic title win away to Derry City on the final day of the season on RTÉ 2, which had a peak viewership of over 402,000 and an average of 206,000. Four games had averages of over 100,000 viewers in the men’s Premier Division this year.

Elsewhere midfielder Romal Palmer has committed his future to St Patrick’s Athletic by signing a new two-year deal.

Palmer joined the club last February on loan from Turkish club Goztepe, having made 33 appearances in the TFF First League before landing at Richmond Park.

The 26-year-old made 25 appearances during his first season in Inchicore, scoring three times, including two crucial goals in the Saints’ UEFA Conference League run during the summer.

St Pat’s finished third in the table under the guidance of Stephen Kenny, four points behind champions Shelbourne, benefitting from a strong finish to the season.

Palmer had spent ten years in the Man City Academey before joining in Barnsley in 2017, and then switching to Turkey  in July  2022.

“It feels amazing, signing a new deal has been in the works for a while now, it was a no brainer for me really,” Palmer told the St Pat’s website.

“The way that I was received by everyone when I joined last season, the Gaffer Stephen Kenny coming in helped me a lot, confidence wise and building me up and I feel like that is what I need at this point of my career, to get back playing games and try to be the best version of myself and I feel like I can do that at St Pat’s.

“It’s a brilliant club. I can’t wait to be back at Richmond to see all the fans and push on from there.”