The 2017–18 Irish Cup (known as the Tennent's Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 138th edition of the Irish Cup, the premier knockout cup competition in Northern Irish football since its introduction in 1881. The competition began on 19 August 2017 and concluded with the final at Windsor Park in May 2018.
Linfield are the defending champions, having defeated Coleraine 3–0 in the 2017 final.
A new system for penalty shoot-outs will be trialled as sanctioned by the International Football Association Board to test a different sequence of taking penalties. Known as "ABBA", it mirrors the serving sequence in a tennis tie-break i.e. team A takes the first penalty, team B takes the second penalty, team B takes the third penalty, etc.Belfast Live
Format and schedule All ties level after 90 minutes used extra time to determine the winner, with a penalty shoot-out to follow if necessary.
130 clubs entered this season's competition, an increase of four clubs compared with the 2016–17 total of 126 clubs. 94 regional league clubs from tiers 4–7 in the Northern Ireland football league system entered the competition in the first round, 12 of whom received a bye into the Round 2A. (Strabane Athletic were originally excluded, but were reinstated after the first-round draw had been made, necessitating a further draw for 'Round 2A' between Strabane and the eleven clubs that had received a first-round bye, with one tie drawn and ten further byes.Irish FA). The 41 first-round winners were joined by winner and the ten byes from Round 2A and the 12 clubs of the NIFL Premier Intermediate League in the second round. After two further rounds, with the eight surviving clubs joining the 24 senior NIFL Premiership and NIFL Championship clubs in the fifth round. All ties level after 90 minutes used extra time to determine the winner, with a penalty shoot-out to follow if necessary.
RoundDraw dateFirst match dateFixturesClubs First round 19 August 2017 41 130 → 89 Round 2A 23 September 2017 1 89 → 88 Second round 30 September 2017 32 88 → 56 Third round 4 November 2017 16 56 → 40 Fourth round 2 December 2017 8 40 → 32 Fifth round 6 January 2018 16 32 → 16 Sixth round 3 February 2018 8 16 → 8 Quarter-finals 3 March 2018 4 8 → 4 Semi-finals 31 March 2018 2 4 → 2 Final 5 May 2018 1 2 → 1
TiersLeaguesNo. of EntriesEntry round1NIFL Premiership24Fifth round2NIFL Championship3NIFL Premier Intermediate League12Second round4Ballymena & Provincial Football League Premier DivisionMid-Ulster Football League Intermediate ANorthern Amateur Football League Premier DivisionNorthern Ireland Intermediate League94First round, Round 2A or Second round if byed5Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate BNorthern Amateur Football League Division 1A6Northern Amateur Football League Division 1B7Northern Amateur Football League Division 1C
Results
First round Matches were played on 19 August 2017Tennent's Irish Cup 2017/18 – First Round Draw
1st Bangor Old Boys 2–3 Tullyvallen 18th Newtownabbey Old Boys 3–2 Comber Recreation Abbey Villa 0–3 Immaculata Ardstraw 10–2 Richhill Ballymacash Rangers 3–4 Shankill United Ballynahinch United v Rosario YC (Rosario YC received bye) Bangor Amateurs 0–3 Newtowne Barn United 3–8 Rathfriland Rangers Bloomfield 1–3 Craigavon City Bryansburn Rangers 3–1 St. Mary's Youth Coagh United 6–1 Ballymoney United Crewe United 2–3 Drumaness Mills Crumlin Star 9–1 Shorts Crumlin United 3–2 Silverwood Derriaghy Cricket Club 3–1 Bourneview Young Men Dollingstown 1–3 Maiden City Dunloy 3–1 Banbridge Rangers Dunmurry Rec. 4–0 Dromore Amateurs Fivemiletown United 1–4 Islandmagee Glebe Rangers 2–0 Bangor Hanover 8–2 Chimney Corner Killyleagh YC 5–1 Newbuildings United Laurelvale 6–1 Broomhedge Maghaberry Lower Maze 1–2 St. Patrick's Young Men Lurgan Town 3–1 Groomsport Magherafelt Sky Blues v Colin Valley (Colin Valley received bye) Malachians v Downshire Young Men (Downshire Young Men received bye) Markethill Swifts 2–1 Grove United Moneyslane 1–4 Sirocco Works Orangefield Old Boys 3–0 Dunmurry Young Men Oxford United Stars 4–3 Trojans Portaferry Rovers 3–1 Ballynahinch Olympic Rathfern Rangers 4–5 Lisburn Rangers Rosemount Rec 3–1 St. Luke's Royal British Legion 1–2 Dromara Village Saintfield United 2–4 Tandragee Rovers Seagoe 1–12 Larne Tech Old Boys Seapatrick 1–4 Ballynure Old Boys Suffolk 2–3 Dungiven Celtic Valley Rangers 5–0 Oxford Sunnyside Windmill Stars 2–1 St. James' Swifts
Round 2A Strabane Athletic were originally excluded from the competition, but were reinstated after the first-round draw had been made, necessitating a 'Round 2A' involving Strabane and the eleven clubs that had received first-round byes. One tie drawn was drawn and the following ten teams received further byes: Albert Foundry, Ballywalter Rec., Brantwood, Cookstown Youth, Desertmartin, Mossley, Newcastle, Strabane Athletic, UUJ and Wellington Rec.
Match played on 23 September 2017 Ards Rangers 9–0 Iveagh United
Second round The twelve members of the NIFL Premier Intermediate League join the competition at this stage as well as the first-round winners, and the winners and byes from Round 2A.
Matches were played on 30 September 2017
18th Newtownabbey Old Boys 1–2 UUJ Annagh United 4–2 Markethill Swifts Ardstraw 2–6 Dundela Armagh City 2–0 Coagh United Ballywalter Recreation 6–3 Ballynure Old Boys Bryansburn Rangers 3–4 Albert Foundry Colin Valley 1–4 Valley Rangers Cookstown Youth 6–7 Craigavon City Crumlin Star 5–0 Oxford United Stars Crumlin United 2–0 Donegal Celtic Derriaghy Cricket Club 1–2 Shankill United Downshire Young Men 1–10 Moyola Park Dromara Village 0–1 Banbridge Town Drumaness Mills 0–2 Hanover Dunloy 1–2 Portstewart Dunmurry Rec. 0–7 Tobermore United Glebe Rangers 3–0 Rosemount Recreation Immaculata 2–1 Larne Tech Old Boys Islandmagee 1–2 Ards Rangers Killyleagh YC 2–0 Sirocco Works Laurelvale 5–2 Tullyvallen Maiden City 7–1 Lurgan Town Newcastle 3–1 Strabane Athletic Newington 0–3 Lisburn Distillery Newtowne 4–2 Desertmartin Portaferry Rovers 2–0 Mossley Queen's University 7–2 Dungiven Celtic Rathfriland Rangers 4–1 Orangefield Old Boys Rosario YC 4–0 Brantwood Sport & Leisure Swifts 2–0 Windmill Stars St Patrick's YM 3–2 Wellington Recreation Tandragee Rovers 3–2 Lisburn Rangers
Third round Matches were played on 4 November 2017
Armagh City 1–2 Crumlin Star Ballywalter Recreation 3–2 Ards Rangers Banbridge Town 1–2 Queen's University Craigavon City 1–4 Albert Foundry Crumlin United 2–0 Valley Rangers Glebe Rangers v UUJ (Glebe Rangers received a bye)Twitter.com @gleberangersfc, 2 November 2017 Hanover 2–3 Shankill United Immaculata 3–1 Brantwood (aet) Killyleagh YC 3–1 Tobermore United Laurelvale 0–5 Moyola Park Newcastle 3–0 Rathfriland Rangers Newtowne 0–2 Lisburn Distillery Portstewart 2–1 Portaferry Rovers Sport & Leisure Swifts 0–2 Dundela St Patrick's Young Men 2–5 Annagh United Tandragee Rovers 1–2 Maiden City (aet)
Fourth round Matches were played on 2 December 2017
Crumlin United 2–4 Immaculata Dundela 5–0 Newcastle Glebe Rangers 2–1 Annagh United Lisburn Distillery 3–1 Albert Foundry Moyola Park 2–0 Ballywalter Recreation Portstewart 1–1 Maiden City (Maiden City won 3–1 on pens) Queen's University 3–1 Killyleagh YC Shankill United 0–4 Crumlin Star
Fifth round Matches were played on 6 January 2018
Sixth round Matches were played on 3 February 2018
Quarter-finals Matches were due to be played on 3 March 2018 but only the Glenavon/Loughgall fixture was completed on this date. The three remaining fixtures were played on 13 March 2018.
Semi-finals Matches were played on 31 March 2018. Cliftonville played Loughgall at the Oval, and Coleraine played Larne at Ballymena Showgrounds.
Final The final was played on 5 May 2018 at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park.
References
External links Official site nifootball.co.uk