Irish Cup
The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Inaugurated in 1881, it is the fourth-oldest national cup competition in the world. Prior to the break-away from the Irish Football Association by clubs from what would become the Irish Free State in 1921, the Irish Cup was the national cup competition for the whole of Ireland.
Since December 2019, the cup has been sponsored by Sadler's Peaky Blinder Lager. It was previously sponsored by Nationwide Building Society, Bass Ireland Ltd, JJB Sports and Tennent's Lager. 126 clubs entered the 2018–19 competition.
Glentoran are the current holders.
Format
During the cup's history, different formats and rules have been used in respect of eligibility to enter the competition, the number of teams and rounds, replays, extra time, penalties, etc. The competition is open to all clubs in Northern Ireland with intermediate or senior status. Clubs obtain such status by meeting minimum criteria laid down by the Irish Football Association in respect of facilities, etc. Each club, for example, must have its own enclosed ground. The competition begins in August or September with the first round, and ends with the final in May of the following year. Clubs from level 3 and all regional league entrants from level 4 and below enter in the first round, sometimes necessitating byes into the second round, depending on the number of entrants. The 24 senior clubs from levels 1 and 2 of the Northern Ireland Football League are exempt until the fifth round, which consists of 32 clubs and is played in January.The competition has always been played in a randomly drawn knock-out format. Teams are drawn against each other randomly. The team who is drawn first from each tie is the home team, except in the case of an intermediate team from outside the Championship drawn first against a senior team, when the tie is played at the ground of the senior team. If the match finishes in a draw after 90 minutes, extra time is played and penalties are used to decide the winner. Both semi-finals and the final are played at Windsor Park.
The Cup winners qualify to represent Northern Ireland in the following season’s UEFA Europa League, subject to the club attaining a UEFA licence. However, if they have already qualified for a UEFA competition by finishing as champions or runners-up of the NIFL Premiership, or if they do not attain a UEFA licence, the Irish Cup's Europa League berth is redistributed to the third-placed Premiership club, and the 4th–7th placed clubs participate in the Premiership's Europa League play-offs.
History
The Irish Cup was inaugurated in the 1880–81 season, with seven clubs taking part. The draw for the first round took place on 10 January 1881, with the first round being played on 5 February 1881. The trophy was first awarded to Moyola Park when they beat Cliftonville 1–0 in the final at Cliftonville Cricket Ground, Belfast on 9 April 1881. Since its inception, the Irish Cup has always been, and continues to be, considered the most important such competition in Northern Ireland, second only to the NIFL Premiership. The cup final is the climax of the domestic season in Northern Ireland and usually attracts the biggest attendance of any club match.Since the inception of the Irish Football League in 1890–91, the Cup has been won by Irish League clubs on every occasion except three famous ‘giant-killing’ occasions when "junior" clubs beat senior opponents in the final: in 1928, Willowfield beat Larne 1–0; in 1955, Dundela beat Glenavon 3–0; and in 1976, Carrick Rangers beat Linfield 2–1. In the early years, Army regiments stationed in Ireland entered teams such as King's Own Rifles, three of which reached the final: the Gordon Highlanders in 1890, the Black Watch in 1892 and the Sherwood Foresters in 1897. The Gordon Highlanders were the only Army team to win the Cup.
Between 1881 and 1921 when the Irish Cup was an all-Ireland competition, southern clubs only won the competition four times out of a possible 41: Shelbourne won three times ; and Bohemians won it in 1908. There were two all-southern finals: Bohemians defeating Shelbourne in 1908, and Shelbourne defeating Bohemians in 1911. Shelbourne, Bohemians and Derry City are the only clubs to win both the Irish Cup and the FAI Cup. Other Dublin clubs to compete in the Irish Cup were Dublin University, St. James's Gate, Dublin Association, Tritonville and Richmond Rovers.
In the second competition in 1881–82, Queen's Island became the first Belfast club to win the Cup and it did not leave Belfast again for another 24 years, when in 1905–06, Shelbourne became the first club from Dublin to win it. Of the 139 competitions played since 1881, Belfast clubs have won the Cup 102 times. The last time a club from outside Belfast won the cup was in 2018, when Coleraine beat Cliftonville 3–1 to win the cup for the sixth time. The cup's most successful club from outside Belfast is Glenavon, with seven wins.
In the early years of the competition the final was played at several different venues in Belfast, including the Oval, Solitude, Grosvenor Park and Celtic Park, as well as Dalymount Park in Dublin. Since 1996, the final has been played exclusively at Windsor Park, except for the 2015 final. The final had to be switched to the Oval, following the discovery of damage to a stand at the usual Windsor Park venue. The first final ever played outside Belfast took place in 1903, when Distillery won their 7th Irish Cup with a 3–1 victory over Bohemians at Dalymount Park, Dublin. The last final to be played outside Belfast was in 1975; Coleraine winning the Cup with a 1–0 victory over Linfield in the second replay, after 1–1 and 0–0 draws in the first two games. Since then the final has been played at The Oval or Windsor Park.
All six counties in Northern Ireland have been represented in the final. Moyola Park from County Londonderry were inaugural winners in 1881. In 1921, Glenavon became the first club from County Armagh to reach the final, but no club from Armagh won the Cup until Glenavon in 1957. County Down's first Cup finalists and winners were Ards in 1927; and County Antrim's were Ballymena in 1929. In 2007, Dungannon Swifts became the first club from County Tyrone to reach the final, and in 2019, Ballinamallard United became the first team from County Fermanagh to reach the final, completing the set.
Prior to replays being abolished in the final, a replay was required to decide the winner of 21 finals, the first in 1890 after Cliftonville and the Gordon Highlanders drew 2–2. Of the 21 finals to be replayed, eight of them required a second replay to separate the two finalists. The last time this occurred, and the last final replay ever played before they were abolished was in 1993, when Bangor defeated Ards 1–0 after two 1–1 draws. It was decided after this that there should only be one replay in which penalties would be used to determine the winner if necessary, and eventually the rules were changed to remove final replays altogether, with penalties being used if necessary after extra time in the first match. The first final to be won on penalties took place in 2007, when Linfield beat Dungannon Swifts 3–2 on penalties following a 2–2 draw after extra time. In 2014, the rules were changed to abolish replays from the entire competition. All ties level after 90 minutes now use 30 minutes of extra time, and if necessary, a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.
The final was not played on three occasions:
- In 1912, Linfield were awarded the Cup after the other three semi-finalists resigned from the IFA in a dispute over the close relationship between the IFA and Linfield and the money paid to the latter for hosting international matches.
- In 1920, Shelbourne, who had beaten Glenavon in one semi-final, were awarded the Cup after the other semi-final was declared null and void as both of the clubs involved were ejected from the competition: Belfast Celtic after Celtic fans fired shots at Glentoran supporters during a riot, and Glentoran for fielding an unlisted player.
- In 1999, Portadown were awarded the Cup when the other finalists, Cliftonville, were ejected from the competition after it was discovered that they had fielded an ineligible player, Simon Gribben, during the earlier rounds.
In 2001, the final was broadcast live on television for the first time on BBC Northern Ireland and has been on every occasion since
Windsor Park has hosted the most finals, followed by The Oval with 25, and Solitude with 23.
Records
Most wins: 43, LinfieldMost consecutive wins: 4, Glentoran
Most appearances in a final: 63, Linfield
Most consecutive appearances in a final: 5, Linfield
Most defeats in a final: 21, Linfield
Most consecutive defeats in a final: 3, Linfield
Biggest win in a final: Linfield 10–1 Bohemians
Longest gap between wins in a final: 70 years, Cliftonville
Longest gap between appearances in a final: 55 years, Bangor
Most appearances in a final without winning: 5, Larne
Most common pair of finalists: Glentoran v Linfield – 15 times
Final results
Key:| Scores level after 90 minutes. A replay was required. | |
| ' | Scores level after extra time. A replay was required. |
| ' | Scores level after 90 minutes. Winner was decided in extra time with no penalty shootout required. |
| pens. | Scores level after extra time. A penalty shootout was required to determine the winner. |
Statistics
Performance By Club
Total cups won by town or city
24 different clubs have won the cup, with the overwhelming majority of winners being clubs from Belfast.| Town or city | Number of cups won | Clubs |
| Belfast | 102 | Linfield, Glentoran, Distillery, Cliftonville, Belfast Celtic, Crusaders, Ulster, Willowfield, Dundela, Queen's Island , Queen's Island |
| Lurgan | 7 | Glenavon |
| Coleraine | 6 | Coleraine |
| Ballymena | 6 | Ballymena United, Ballymena |
| Dublin | 4 | Shelbourne, Bohemians |
| Newtownards | 4 | Ards |
| Derry | 3 | Derry City |
| Portadown | 3 | Portadown |
| Bangor | 1 | Bangor |
| Carrickfergus | 1 | Carrick Rangers |
| Castledawson | 1 | Moyola Park |
| British Army | 1 | Gordon Highlanders |
Final venues
There have been 136 Irish Cup finals contested during the 139 competitions completed thus far, as the final was not played on three occasions. In addition, 29 final replays have been contested, for a total of 165 matches played at twelve different grounds. Windsor Park has been the most common venue, having hosted 74 finals including replays.| Venue | Number of finals | First final | Last final |
| Windsor Park | 74 | 1908–09 | 2018–19 |
| The Oval | 25 | 1897–98 | 2014–15 |
| Solitude | 23 | 1890–91 | 1969–70 |
| Celtic Park | 12 | 1906–07 | 1947–48 |
| Dalymount Park | 8 | 1902–03 | 1910–11 replay |
| Grosvenor Park | 8 | 1896–97 | 1918–19 replay |
| Ulster Cricket Ground | 7 | 1881–82 | 1889–90 |
| Ballymena Showgrounds | 3 | 1974–75 | 1974–75 second replay |
| Ulsterville | 2 | 1889–90 replay | 1892–93 |
| Bloomfield | 1 | 1882–83 | 1882–83 |
| Broadway Ground | 1 | 1886–87 | 1886–87 |
| Cliftonville Cricket Ground | 1 | 1880–81 | 1880–81 |