The 2004–05 Irish Cup was the 125th edition of the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

's premier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

knock-out cup competition. It concluded on 7 May 2005 with the final.

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

were the defending champions, winning their 20th Irish Cup last season after a 1–0 win over

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

in the 2004 final. This season the Glens reached the semi-final stage, but were defeated by Portadown, who then went on to lift the cup for the third time with a 5–1 victory over

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

in the final. It was the highest scoring final in 36 years, since the 1969 final replay when Ards defeated

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

4–2. It was also the first time in 43 years that the final had been won by a four-goal margin, when Linfield defeated Portadown 4–0 in 1962. This was Larne's fifth appearance in the final without ever winning; a record in the competition that still stands. They had previously been runners-up in the 1928, 1935,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

finals.

Derry Celtic Derry Celtic Football Club was a football club from Derry, Ireland. The club, formed as St Columb's Hall in 1890, changing to St Columb's Hall Celtic in 1893, and Derry Celtic in 1899, was once the primary team in the city, but was voted out ...

(1898 and 1904) and

Limavady Limavady (; ) is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying east of Derry and southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 12,032 people at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census ...

(1885 and 1886) are the only other clubs to have reached the final more than once, but never won.

Fifth round

Newry City Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, although ...

were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player. Bangor were reinstated.

Replays

Sixth round

Replays

Quarter-finals

Replays

Semi-finals

Replay

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004-05 Irish Cup 2004-05 2004–05 domestic association football cups 2004–05 in Northern Ireland association football 2004 in Northern Ireland sport 2005 in Northern Ireland sport