The best sports bars in Dublin

The SinBin at The Mont Hotel on Merrion Street Lower brings a level of cool to the Dublin sports bar scene — a venue that combines giant screens and proper match-day atmosphere with a cocktail programme inspired by Oscar Wilde, and a winter garden conservatory that fills with natural light. With four large HD screens and a projector, two private snugs seating 12 and 16 respectively, and a premium whiskey bar alongside an extensive craft beer selection, it covers the technical requirements of a sports bar with ease. The food menu runs to elevated bar bites — classic favourites done carefully, designed to sit alongside a drink rather than compete with it. The outdoor terrace on the corner with Merrion Square adds an attractive warm-weather dimension. Open daily, The SinBin is one of the best sports bars in Dublin city centre to visit right now.

Sitting on Wellington Quay right on the river in the heart of Temple Bar, Bison Bar & BBQ is one of Dublin’s most enjoyable sports pubs. The Texan BBQ concept is the anchor — head chef Oliver Byrne travelled to Memphis to learn the craft, returning with a Southern Pride smoker that has been producing properly smoked brisket, St Louis-style pork ribs, and pulled pork ever since. The smoked brisket sandwich in BBQ sauce with melted cheese and garlic aioli and the full rack of St Louis ribs are the orders that earn the bar its regulars. More than 150 whiskeys line the back bar alongside a strong cocktail list. TVs, a pool table, and regular live music complete the atmosphere — and the riverside location means that on a warm match day, the quayside energy is part of the experience. A genuinely fun sports pub for dinner and a game.

The Porterhouse on Parliament Street opened in 1996 as Dublin’s first pub brewery. Three decades on, it remains one of the best sports pubs in Dublin thanks to its stellar beer programme: eight house-brewed beers on tap including the Plain porter and the Chocolate Truffle stout, plus the largest selection of world-class beers in Ireland, all served in a multi-floor space of exposed brick, beamed ceilings, and warm nooks. Sports are shown throughout the week, with guests successfully pre-booking for Formula 1, rugby, and international fixtures. The kitchen produces a hearty match-day menu of chargrilled steaks, salmon, oysters in butter, and classic pub grub designed to pair well with whatever is on tap. Live music runs seven nights a week, so the evening has a natural continuation beyond the final whistle. A Dublin institution on any metric.

Murray’s Bar has occupied 33-34 Upper O’Connell Street since 1908 — now a multi-floor venue with a traditional bar, restaurant, basement whiskey bar, and top-floor sports bar with a large heated beer garden. The O’Connell Street address puts it within easy reach of Croke Park — just minutes by foot — making it a natural GAA match-day base for northern and midlands supporters descending on the city. The kitchen takes its pub cooking seriously: the beef and Guinness pie with creamy mash and the fresh seafood chowder with homemade Guinness and treacle brown bread are the dishes that keep the regulars loyal, alongside a salt and pepper squid starter that earns its place on the menu. The beer garden is one of the best outdoor sports-watching spaces in the northside city centre — warm, busy on match days, and reliably good craic. Live traditional music and Irish dancing feature regularly in the evenings.

The Voyager on Dame Street occupies a thoughtfully designed space whose walls are covered in paintings, murals, and drawings depicting Ireland during the famine years of the 1840s — a deliberate ode to the men, women, and children who left the island and helped shape the lands they travelled to. It is an unusual backdrop for a sports pub, but The Voyager carries it well: sport is on the screens throughout, live music plays seven nights a week, and the kitchen serves a genuine Irish menu with real commitment. The Guinness and beef stew, traditional bacon and cabbage, and Smithwick’s beer-battered fish and chips are the signature dishes; spicy chicken wings and a buttermilk chicken burger round out a menu suited to a long afternoon on the drinks. Located just off Dame Street, the venue is a short walk from both Trinity College and St Stephen’s Green, making it an accessible and characterful match-day option in the south city centre.

The Lock Keeper in Ashtown sits at Lock 10 on the Royal Canal — a canalside gastropub that offers a sports viewing experience with a setting unlike anything available in the city centre. Multiple screens show live sport throughout, and the kitchen backs them up with a menu built for a proper match-day afternoon: the Guinness-marinated flank steak ciabatta with Cashel Blue cheese and baby leaves, the market-fresh haddock in beer batter with mushy peas and home fries, and the well-regarded Thursday steak night (two ribeyes and a bottle of wine) all make The Lock Keeper a destination in its own right rather than just a TV backdrop. Accessible by Luas or train from Connolly Station in under ten minutes, it draws a loyal local crowd for GAA and Premier League fixtures alike. The outdoor canalside terrace is particularly pleasant for late-afternoon or early-evening sport in warmer months. Book ahead for major fixtures.

Harcourt Bar & Garden Lounge on Harcourt Street is one of the largest all-weather beer gardens in Dublin 2 — and its sports offer reflects that scale. Multiple screens throughout the indoor and outdoor spaces cover the major leagues and international fixtures, and the kitchen serves a food menu built for group grazing: wood-fired pizzas, rack of ribs BBQ-glazed and built for sharing, tacos, and bar bites that keep groups fed and happy through a full afternoon of sport. The garden itself, with its balcony and rockery sections available for private hire, has a festival-like energy on match days — well-suited to the after-work and weekend crowd that fills Harcourt Street on big game nights. A convenient location near St Stephen’s Green and the Luas makes it easy to reach from both sides of the city. For a Dublin sports pub with genuinely good outdoor space, Harcourt Bar is a reliable choice.

Sinnotts Bar on South King Street, tucked directly under the St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, has a legitimate claim to be the premier dedicated sports bar in Dublin city centre — 14 large screens distributed throughout the bar with a state-of-the-art audio-visual system capable of showing multiple games simultaneously, covering everything from rugby and Premier League to American Football and GAA. The pub retains a traditional Irish character despite its technical sophistication: original literary prints by James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, and Oscar Wilde line the walls. The kitchen runs a modern Irish menu of carvery lunches, Irish stew, seafood chowder, chicken and leek pie, and fish and chips. For guaranteed atmosphere and guaranteed viewing at any major sporting fixture, Sinnotts is the first port of call.

River Bar sits on Burgh Quay directly beneath the iconic Heineken sign at O’Connell Bridge — one of the most visible and central positions of any sports bar in Dublin, straddling the boundary between the northside and southside and accessible from both. The scale matches the location: 22 fully HD 58-inch screens across two floors, plus the largest indoor screen in the city at 12 feet, all served by a sound system designed so that every seat has a clear view and a clean line of audio. The kitchen operates daily, running breakfast, hearty weekday lunches, and dinner — a vegan curry, a veggie burger, Irish stew, burgers, and sharing platters covering enough ground to keep a mixed group happy. Over 100 beers, cocktails, and premium spirits complete the drinks offering. When the game ends and the whistle blows, the venue transitions smoothly into a late-night bar. It’s Dublin’s most comprehensively equipped sports bar for screen count and central location.

McGettigan’s on Swords Road in Whitehall is the northside outpost of the McGettigan group — a brand that has taken its modern Irish experience tagline to bars across Ireland, the UK, and beyond, and built its reputation on a reliable combination of live sport, live music, and a kitchen that serves well beyond standard pub-grub expectations. Thirteen HD TVs including two giant screens cover a wide range of fixtures seven days a week. The food menu takes in gourmet burgers, steaks, chicken wings, flatbreads, fish and chips, chilli beef nachos, and bangers and mash — the kind of broad, well-executed menu that keeps groups of mixed appetites satisfied across a long sporting afternoon. A late bar runs until 1:30am on Fridays and Saturdays.