Attendances for SSE Airtricity League matches rose in 2015 with the top flight Premier Division recording a substantial rise of 9.8%
This was part of an overall 6.9% boost for attendances for the League across both the Premier and First Divisions.
A number of clubs posted major double digit increases on last season with Limerick (48%) leading the way in the Premier Division ahead of Longford Town (31%), and Galway United (28%).
In the First Division, Finn Harps (77%) attracted big crowds as they went on to win the Promotion/Relegation Play-Off, while Wexford Youths (62%) and Cobh Ramblers (44%) also enjoyed significant increases.
Both Cork City and Dundalk attracted an average attendance of over 3,000 spectators to their home games, while almost 375,000 people attended games across the League.
There was also increased interest in both the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup and EA Sports Cup with the two respective finals seeing an increase on attendances from 2014 with the former attracting a crowd of 25,103 to Aviva Stadium.
The number is still only one third that of those who travel over from Ireland to watch matches in the English Premier League each year but it is still a stronger platform on which to build out the recommendations of the Conroy Report into the SSE Airtricity League and Clubs published in September.
There will be a natural boost for soccer from the International teams qualifying for the Euro 2016 Finals in France though that may be countered by the new television deal coming into place in 2016 which will put English Premier League matches on pay TV in opposition to domestic games live.
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