The 2021–22 Irish Cup (known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 142nd edition of the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

, the premier knockout cup competition in

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

since its inauguration in 1881. The competition began on 7 August 2021 and concluded with the final at

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

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

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

2–1 in the previous season's final. This season, they were defeated by Larne in the second round.

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

were the winners, defeating

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. The club has been man ...

2–1 in the first ever meeting between the two teams in the final, and qualified for 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. At the start of the first official lockdown, the Department of Health (Northern Ireland), Department of Health reported 3,445 deaths overall among people who had recently tested ...

. 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 Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

and

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championsh ...

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

– 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 (NL), Kilmore Recreation (NL), Laurelvale (NL), Lisburn Rangers (NL), Markethill Swifts (NL),

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester. The town grew ...

(NL), Newington (3), Oxford Sunnyside (NL), Rathfriland Rangers (NL), St James' Swifts (NL), St Mary's (NL), Strabane Athletic (NL) and Tandragee Rovers (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 & Social Club is an intermediate football and social 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 ...

, 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 Sirocco Works, officially Sirocco Engineering Works, was an engineering firm based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The site is located beside Short Strand, adjacent to Bridge End and River Lagan. It was founded by Samuel Cleland Davidson in 1881 unde ...

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

and

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

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

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 Ferman ...

. The final was played on 7 May 2022 at

Notes

References

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

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...