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Sports Media · Ireland

Top sports media in Ireland

The outlets that cover sport in Ireland — the sports press, the broadcasters, the agencies and the specialist titles.
✓ Last reviewed: September 2026

These are the outlets that cover sport in Ireland — the sports press, the broadcasters that hold or have held rights, the national news agency where it carries sport, and the specialist titles of national standing. Single-sport titles without national standing are not listed here; they appear on the media list for their own sport.

How this list is ordered. By role and national standing — the sports press first, then the broadcasters that hold or have held rights, then the national news agency and the specialist titles. That order is set once and stays put, so a page that has been cited does not rearrange itself later. The Tranco figure against each outlet is shown for reference and does not set the order. Tranco is a research ranking of web domains that averages the Chrome User Experience Report, Cloudflare Radar, Majestic, Cisco Umbrella and Farsight over the preceding 30 days, on the list of September 2026. It ranks a whole domain, not a sports desk. A general daily's rank counts every reader it has, most of whom did not come for sport, so a national newspaper will sit above a dedicated sports title that has more sports readers than it does.

1. RTÉ SportBroadcaster · Television · Tranco 3,927 — The sport output of RTÉ, the public service broadcaster whose objects are set by section 114 of the Broadcasting Act 2009; its RTÉ2 coverage of the 2025 All-Ireland hurling final drew 995,300 viewers. 2. TG4Broadcaster · Television · Tranco 238,906 — The Irish-language public service broadcaster under section 118 of the Broadcasting Act 2009; it states that the 2025 Allianz League football final was its most-watched programme, with 221,900 viewers. 3. The Irish TimesGeneral sports coverage · Newspaper · Tranco 3,029 — A Dublin daily first published on 29 March 1859, owned through The Irish Times DAC by the Irish Times Trust; its group reported 143,000 subscribers at the end of 2024. 4. Irish IndependentGeneral sports coverage · Newspaper · Tranco 4,819 — A national daily of Mediahuis Ireland, part of the Belgian Mediahuis group since its takeover of Independent News & Media in 2019; its case study reports 90,280 digital subscriptions at the end of 2025. 5. Irish ExaminerGeneral sports coverage · Newspaper · Tranco 13,667 — A Cork-based national daily that dates its first issue to 30 August 1841; part of The Irish Times group since the purchase of Landmark Media completed on 10 July 2018. 6. The42Specialist title · News site · Tranco 135,145 — The sports website of Journal Media Ltd, publisher of The Journal; Journal Media dates the site’s origin to 2010, and the Euromedia Ownership Monitor records the group under DML Capital.