The 2024–25 Irish Cup (known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 145th 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 knock-out 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 winners qualified for the 2025–26 Conference League second qualifying round.

Dungannon Swifts Dungannon Swifts Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1949, has risen from the Mid-Ulster league to the top tier in Northern Ireland since its election to the I ...

won the cup for the first time, defeating holders

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

4–3 in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw in extra time.

Results

First round

107 clubs in Tier 3 and below entered the first round. The draw was held on 2 July 2024. The following teams received byes: * NIFL Premier Intermediate League (3): Banbridge Town and Oxford Sunnyside * Ballymena & Provincial Football League Intermediate Division (4):

Belfast Celtic Belfast Celtic Football Club was an Irish football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for political reaso ...

, Desertmartin, and

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 ...

* Northern Amateur League Premier Division (4): 1st Bangor Old Boys, Ards Rangers, Derriaghy Cricket Club, Dromara Village, Immaculata, Malachians, and Shankill United * Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate A (5): Moneyslane and Seagoe * Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate B (5): Bourneview Mill * Northern Amateur League Division 1A (5): Ballynahinch Olympic and St Oliver Plunkett * Northern Amateur League Division 1B (6): 18th Newtownabbey Old Boys and

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 ...

* Northern Amateur League Division 1C (7): Bloomfield and

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

!colspan="3" align="center", 10 August 2024 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 13 August 2024

Second round

The 43 first round winners and 21 teams given byes entered the second round. The draw was held on 13 August 2024. !colspan="3" align="center", 13 September 2024 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 14 September 2024

Third round

The 32 second round winners entered the third round. The draw was held on 16 September 2024. !colspan="3" align="center", 26 October 2024 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 2 November 2024

Fourth round

The 16 third round winners entered the fourth round. The draw was held on 28 October 2024. !colspan="3" align="center", 23 November 2024 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 30 November 2024

Fifth round

The eight fourth round winners, the 12 teams from the

2024–25 NIFL Premiership The 2024–25 NIFL Premiership (known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland and the 124th season of Northern Ireland Footbal ...

, and the 12 teams from the 2024–25 NIFL Championship entered the fifth round. The draw was held on 26 November 2024. !colspan="3" align="center", 3 January 2025 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 4 January 2025 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 14 January 2025

Sixth round

The 16 fifth round winners entered the sixth round. The draw was held on 4 January 2025. !colspan="3" align="center", 31 January 2025 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 1 February 2025

Quarter-finals

The eight sixth round winners entered the quarter-finals. The draw was held on 1 February 2025. !colspan="3" align="center", 28 February 2025 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 1 March 2025

Semi-finals

The four quarter-final winners entered the semi-finals. The draw was held on 1 March 2025. !colspan="3" align="center", 28 March 2025 , - !colspan="3" align="center", 29 March 2025

Final

The final was held between the two semi-final winners.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2024-25 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 ...