The 1980–81 Irish Cup was the 101st 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 ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

's premier

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 ...

knock-out cup competition. It began on 31 January 1981, and concluded on 2 May 1981 with the final. The defending champions were Linfield who won the cup for the 32nd time the previous season, defeating

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 ...

2–0 in the 1979–80 final. They reached the semi-finals this time, where they were defeated 1–0 by Glenavon.

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 ...

won the cup for the third time (fourth time if you include

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

's record), defeating Glenavon 1–0 in the final.

Results

First round

¹These ties required a replay, after the first games ended as 0–0 draws.
²This tie required a replay, after the first game ended as 1–1 draw.

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

³This tie required a replay, after the first game ended as a 2–2 draw.

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 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 ...