The 2025–26 Irish Cup (known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 146th edition of the Irish Cup, the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its inauguration in 1881. The winners qualified for the 2026–27 Conference League second qualifying round. Dungannon Swifts were the defending cup holders.
Coleraine won the cup on 2 May 2026 (their seventh Irish Cup win), defeating Dungannon Swifts 3–2 in the final.
Results First round 90 clubs in Tier 3 and below entered the first round. The draw was held on 3 July 2025.
The following teams received byes: Coagh United, Craigavon City, Drumaness Mills, Fivemiletown United, Grove United, Hanover, Immaculata, Killymoon Rangers, Kilmore Recreation, Larne Technical Old Boys, Lower Maze, Maiden City, Newbuildings United, Portaferry Rovers, PSNI, Seapatrick, Tullycarnet, Wakehurst, and Woodvale.
!colspan="3" align="center"|9 August 2025
Second round The 45 first round winners and 19 teams given byes entered the second round. The draw was held on 11 August 2025.
!colspan="3" align="center"|12 September 2025
!colspan="3" align="center"|13 September 2025
Notes
Third round The 32 second round winners entered the third round. The draw was held on 15 September 2025.
!colspan="3" align="center"|25 October 2025
Fourth round The 16 third round winners entered the fourth round. The draw was held on 30 October 2025.
!colspan="3" align="center"|21 November 2025
!colspan="3" align="center"|22 November 2025
Fifth round The eight fourth round winners, the 12 teams from the 2025–26 NIFL Premiership, and the 12 teams from the 2025–26 NIFL Championship entered the fifth round. The draw was held on 9 December 2025.
!colspan="3" align="center"|9 January 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|10 January 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|13 January 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|20 January 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|3 February 2026
Sixth round The sixteen fifth round winners entered the sixth round. The draw was held on 10 January 2026.
!colspan="3" align="center"|6 February 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|7 February 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|17 February 2026
Quarter-finals The eight sixth round winners entered the quarter-finals. The draw was held on 7 February 2026.
!colspan="3" align="center"|6 March 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|7 March 2026
Semi-finals The four quarter-final winners entered the semi-finals. The draw was held on 7 March 2026.
!colspan="3" align="center"|3 April 2026
!colspan="3" align="center"|4 April 2026
Final The final was held between the two semi-final winners.
References