The European Football Championship had Irish people hitting their nearest store to stock up on alcohol, soft drinks, crisp and snacks and it made for healthy summer sales for supermarkets.

The grocery market saw continued growth for the three months ending July 17th, with sales up 3.3% year-on-year.

The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed that SuperValu had the strongest growth among major retailers.

Its sales grew ahead of the market, strengthening its position as Ireland's number one retailer with a 22.5% share.

Tesco follows hot on its heels with 21.9% of the grocery market, though its share has fallen compared with the same period in 2015.

Dunnes Stores saw its sales jump 6.5%, while Lidl remains in fourth place with an 11.9% share of the market.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, attributed healthy sales to the football:

“Ireland’s involvement in the Euro 2016 certainly looks to have had a positive impact for the major supermarkets.

"Alcohol sales over the past 12 weeks are 11% higher than the same time last year, as consumers stocked up more often and bought more each time they shopped.

"Soft drinks, confectionery, crisps and snacks all also saw positive sales growth as football fans made the most of the opportunity to treat themselves.”

Berry said the strongest growth had been from smaller retailers, which increased sales by a combined 6.8%:

"This has been boosted in particular by bargain stores such as Dealz, a strong period for Iceland and an increase in cross-border shopping.

"Iceland and bargain stores have both felt the benefit of expanding their store estates, while the drop in the value of sterling has made cross-border shopping more appealing.

"While all three of these phenomena remain small, they have contributed to an impressive combined €14 million sales increase.”