The 2023–24 Scottish Junior Cup (known as the Clydebuilt Home Improvements Scottish Junior Cup due to sponsorship reasons), was the 137th season of the
Scottish Junior Cup
The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA). The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA on the 2nd October 1886 and, as of the 2023–24 ed ...
, the national
knockout tournament
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
for member clubs of the
Scottish Junior Football Association
The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football (soccer), football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the ...
(SJFA). A total of 112 clubs entered the competition, four more than in 2022–23.
Camelon Juniors, Caledonian Locomotives (previously Rossvale), Hall Russell United, Kello Rovers, Pollok, Pumpherston, and Whitehills returned to take part in the competition while Finnart and Rossvale (formerly Rossvale Academy) entered for the first time. Glasgow Perthshire, Harthill Royal, and Livingston United did not compete, along with Aberdeen University who also withdrew from their league and Syngenta who had folded.
Defending champions Cumnock Juniors were eliminated in the second round by local rivals Auchinleck Talbot.
Darvel
Darvel
(, ) is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is at the eastern end of the Loudoun, Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" ().
The town's Latin motto, , means "Not for ourselves, but for others".
History Prehis ...
defeated Auchinleck in the semi-final en route to claiming the trophy for the first time.
Calendar
The dates for each round of the 2023–24 tournament were as follows:
Drawn matches proceed direct to a
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
, with no extra time. The semi-finals reverted back to being played home and away over two legs after two seasons as single legs at neutral venues.
Benburb
Benburb ()) is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies 7.5 miles from Armagh and 8 miles from Dungannon. The River Blackwater runs alongside the village as does the Ulster Canal.
History
It is best known, in hi ...
,
Camelon Juniors
Camelon Juniors Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Camelon, in the Falkirk district. The team plays in the , having moved from the junior leagues in 2018. Despite this move, the club has decided to retain the "Juniors" part o ...
Darvel
Darvel
(, ) is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is at the eastern end of the Loudoun, Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" ().
The town's Latin motto, , means "Not for ourselves, but for others".
History Prehis ...
Pollok
Pollok (, ) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,000 at its peak, its population ha ...
Tayport
Tayport, also known as Ferry-Port-on-Craig, is a town in Fife, Scotland. It lies on the Firth of Tay opposite Broughty Ferry, a suburb of Dundee. The two were linked by a ferry service until 1939. To the east of Tayport is the vast Tentsmuir ...
— received a bye into the second round draw along with St Anthony's.
Second round
Matches
Third round
Matches
Fourth round
Draw
Matches
Quarter-finals
Draw
Matches
Semi-finals
First leg
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Second leg
''Darvel won 2–1 on aggregate.''
----
''Arthurlie won 4–3 on aggregate.''
Final
The Final of the Scottish Junior Cup was played at
Broadwood Stadium
Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield, Cumbernauld, Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical F.C., Hamilt ...
,
Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...
on Sunday 2 June with a 4.05pm kick off. The game was televised live by
BBC Alba
BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...