Viewership figures show that Sky Sports' lost almost two-thirds of their audience for this years All Ireland Hurling Final compared to the same game last year.
This years game between Kilkenny and Galway was only watched by 32,000 fans in the UK. That's the equivalent of the population of Bray in Co. Wicklow.
The numbers were revealed by Paul Rouse, a lecturer in Sports History at UCD. Rouse has been one of the more vocal opponents to the GAA's selling of rights to Sky Sports.
Sky Sports All-Ireland Hurling Final Average Viewership in UK: 32,000 (down 72,000 on 2014 viewership)
— Paul Rouse (@PaulRouseUCD) September 15, 2015
The news will come as an embarrassment to Sky Sports whose main coverage on September 6th consisted of Wales' Euro 2016 qualifier with Israel which was watched by 670,000, just over 20 times the amount that watched the game in Croke Park on Sky Sports.
Their Premier League coverage does far better, with their coverage of the August 16th game between Manchester City and Chelsea being seen by over 1.4million viewers.
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