Founded 1881 International cup(s) UEFA Europa League | Number of teams 129 (2015–16) Current champions Glenavon | |
Organising body Irish Football Association Region Ireland (1881–1921)
Northern Ireland (since 1921) | ||
The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup (also known as the Tennent's Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the national 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. Glenavon are the current holders after beating Linfield 2–0 in the 2016 final.
Contents
Since December 2015, the cup has been sponsored by Tennent's Lager – the competition's first title sponsor since 2012. It was previously sponsored by Nationwide Building Society, Bass Ireland Ltd and JJB Sports. 129 clubs entered the 2015–16 competition.
Format
Different formats and rules have been used in the past in respect of eligibility to enter the competition, the number of teams and rounds, replays, extra time, penalties, etc. The competition begins in August or September with the first round, and ends with the final in May of the following year. 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. Members of the NIFL Premier Intermediate League 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 members 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 (if necessary) 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. However, if they have already qualified for European competition as winners or runners-up of the NIFL Premiership, the 3rd-placed Premiership club are awarded the berth, and do not have to participate in the Premiership's Europa League play-offs.
History
Since its inception in 1881, the Irish Cup has always been, and continues to be, considered the most important such competition in Northern Ireland (and, prior to 1921, 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. The Irish Cup started in the 1880–81 season. The draw for the first round took place on 10 January 1881. The trophy was first awarded to Moyola Park (from Castledawson in County Londonderry) when they beat Cliftonville (from Belfast) 1–0 in the final at Cliftonville Cricket Ground, Belfast on 9 April 1881.
Since the inception of the Irish Football League in 1890–91 (and excluding the First and Second World War years when the League was suspended), 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 (Cork), three of which reached the final: the Gordon Highlanders in 1890, the Black Watch (Limerick) in 1892 and the Sherwood Foresters (Curragh, County Kildare) in 1897. The Gordon Highlanders were the only Army team to win the Cup.
From 1881 to 1921, when the Irish Cup was an all-Ireland competition, southern clubs (from what would become the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland) only won the competition four times out of a possible 41: Shelbourne (from Dublin) won three times (in 1906, 1911 and 1920); and Bohemians (also from Dublin) won it in 1908. There were two all-southern finals: Bohemians defeating Shelbourne in 1908, and Shelbourne defeating Bohemians in 1911 (both ties required replays). 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 135 competitions played since 1881, Belfast clubs have won the Cup 100 times. The last time a club from outside Belfast won the cup was in 2014, when Glenavon beat Ballymena United 2–1 to win the cup for the sixth time and become the cup's most successful club from outside Belfast.
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. From 1996–2014 the final was played exclusively at Windsor Park. However, the 2015 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 either The Oval, or Windsor Park. The first final between two clubs from outside Belfast was in 1908, when Bohemians beat Shelbourne 3–1 after a replay.
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.
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, and to date only 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:
A total of 24 different clubs have won the Cup, but only 13 clubs have done so more than once. 33 different clubs have reached the final, with 11 of them appearing only once. Of those 11 clubs, five of them have won the Cup in their sole final appearance. On five occasions the same two clubs have reached the final in consecutive years: in 1885 and 1886, Distillery and Alexander; in 1913 and 1914, Glentoran and Linfield; in 1930 and 1931, Ballymena United and Linfield; Coleraine and Glentoran in 2003 and 2004; and in 2011 and 2012 Linfield and Crusaders. The most common final has been between Glentoran and Linfield, which has occurred 15 times. Linfield have won eight of the meetings, with Glentoran winning seven. The last time both clubs reached the final was in 2006, when Linfield won 2–1.
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 (70, including replays), followed by The Oval with 25, and Solitude with 22.
Records
Most wins: 42, Linfield
Most consecutive wins: 4, Glentoran (1985, 1986, 1987 & 1988)
Most appearances in a final: 61, Linfield
Most consecutive appearances in a final: 5, Linfield (1891, 1892, 1893, 1894 & 1895)
Most defeats in a final: 20, Linfield
Most consecutive defeats in a final: 3, Linfield (1975, 1976 & 1977)
Biggest win in a final: Linfield 10–1 Bohemians (1895)
Longest gap between wins in a final: 70 years, Cliftonville (1909 and 1979)
Longest gap between appearances in a final: 55 years, Bangor (1938 and 1993)
Most appearances in a final without winning: 5, Larne (1928, 1935, 1987, 1989 & 2005)
Most common pair of finalists: Glentoran v Linfield (15 times), 1899, 1913, 1914, 1916, 1919, 1923, 1932, 1942, 1945, 1966, 1973, 1983, 1985, 2001 & 2006
Final results
Key:
Total cups won by town or city
24 different clubs have won the cup, and the overwhelming majority of cups have been won by clubs from Belfast.
Final venues
There have been 133 Irish Cup finals contested during the 136 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 162 matches played at twelve different grounds. Windsor Park has been the most common venue, having hosted 71 finals including replays.