The 2021–22 Irish Cup (known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey

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 ...

for sponsorship purposes) is the 142nd edition of the premier knock-out cup competition in

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

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 ...

since its inauguration in 1881. The competition began on 7 August 2021 with the first qualifying round, and will conclude with the final at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

on 7 May 2022. Linfield were the defending champions, having defeated

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 ...

2–1 in the previous season's final. However, this season they were unable to defend the cup, with Larne defeating them 2–0 in the second round. The winners will enter the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

Format and schedule

128 clubs entered this season's competition. This was a large increase on the 26 entrants for the previous season's competition, which was played in a condensed format as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic reached Northern Ireland in February 2020. The Department of Health reports 3,445 deaths overall among people who had recently tested positive. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency reports 5,029 where the ...

. This season, the stages of the cup were renamed. The first four rounds will now be known as ''qualifying rounds'', with what was historically known as the fifth round now becoming the first round of the main competition. 104 clubs entered the draw for the first qualifying round. 80 of them were drawn to face each other in 40 ties, with the remaining 24 given byes into the second qualifying round. After two further knockout rounds, the eight winners from the fourth qualifying round will join the 24 clubs from the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

and

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

in the first round of the main competition.

Qualifying rounds

''The league tier of each club at the time of entering the competition is listed in parentheses.'' *''(1) = NIFL Premiership'' *''(2) = NIFL Championship'' *''(3) = NIFL Premier Intermediate League'' *''(NL) = Non-league (clubs outside the

Northern Ireland Football League The Northern Ireland Football League (commonly abbreviated to NIFL), known historically, and still colloquially, as the Irish League, is the national football league of Northern Ireland. The Irish League was originally formed in 1890, with the l ...

– levels 4–7)''

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round took place on 20 July 2021, with the matches played on 7 and 14 August 2021. 104 clubs from level 3 and below entered the draw for the first qualifying round. 80 of them were randomly drawn to face each other in 40 ties. The remaining 24 clubs, namely: 18th Newtownabbey Old Boys (NL), Ballynahinch Olympic (NL), Bangor (3), Bloomfield (NL), Colin Valley (NL), Comber Recreation (NL), Crewe United (NL), Downshire Young Men (NL), Drumaness Mills (NL), Dunmurry Young Men (NL), Glebe Rangers (NL),

Immaculata The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely reveal ...

(NL), Kilmore Recreation (NL),

Laurelvale Laurelvale is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is beside the smaller village of Mullavilly and the two are sometimes referred to as Laurelvale-Mullavilly or Mullavilly-Laurelvale. The village is three miles south of Portadown and 1 ...

(NL), Lisburn Rangers (NL), Markethill Swifts (NL),

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire ...

(NL), Newington (3), Oxford Sunnyside (NL), Rathfriland Rangers (NL), St James' Swifts (NL), St Mary's (NL), Strabane Athletic (NL) and

Tandragee Rovers Tandragee Rovers Football Club is an intermediate-level football club playing in the Intermediate A division of the Mid-Ulster Football League in Northern Ireland. They were treble winners in 2000–01 season winning the following Bob Radcli ...

(NL) all received byes into the second qualifying round. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 7 August 2021 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 14 August 2021 , -

Second qualifying round

64 clubs entered the second qualifying round; the 40 winners from the first qualifying round, along with the 24 clubs that received byes. The matches were played on 24 and 25 September 2021.

, originally drawn to face Wellington Recreation or

Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Football Club is an intermediate football club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Donegal Celtic Park. Club co ...

, were given a bye into the third qualifying round after both clubs were dismissed from the competition. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 24 September 2021 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 25 September 2021 , -

Third qualifying round

32 clubs entered the third qualifying round; the 30 winners from the second qualifying round matches, along with Sirocco Works who received a walkover after their opponents withdrew, and

who received a bye. The matches were played on 30 October 2021.

Fourth qualifying round

The 16 third qualifying round winners entered the fourth qualifying round. The matches were played on 27 November 2021. The eight winners from this round qualified for the first round of the main competition.

Main competition

First round

32 clubs entered the first round of the main competition; the 24 clubs from levels 1 and 2 (the

and

), along with the eight clubs that progressed through the four qualifying rounds. The matches were played on 7 and 8 January 2022. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 7 January 2022 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 8 January 2022 , -

Second round

The second round draw was made on 8 January 2022. The 16 first round winners entered the second round. The matches are due to be played on 4, 5 and 15 February 2022. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 4 February 2022 , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 5 February 2022 , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 15 February 2022

Quarter-finals

The 8 second round winners entered the quarter-finals. The matches were played on 4 and 5 March 2022.

Semi-finals

The 4 quarter-final winners entered the semi-finals. The matches were played on 1 and 26 April 2022. Both semi-finals were originally scheduled to take place on 1 April. However, the match between Newry City and Ballymena United was delayed as a result of Glentoran's appeal against their expulsion from the competition.

Final

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

and

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

will meet in an Irish Cup final for the first time. Ballymena United were runners-up against

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 ...

in 2020, while Crusaders' last appearance in the final was in 2019, winning the cup with a 3–0 win over

Ballinamallard United Ballinamallard United Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club, re-formed in 1975 after being dormant since the 1960s, hails from Ballinamallard, near Enniskillen, County Ferma ...

. The final will be played on 7 May 2022 at

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Cup 2021-22 2021-22

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

2021–22 European domestic association football cups