FAI Cup

Extra.ie FAI Cup
Organising body	Football Association of Ireland
Founded	1921–22
Region	Republic of Ireland; Northern Ireland
Number of teams	40
Qualifier for	UEFA Europa Conference League
Domestic cup(s)	President of Ireland's Cup
Current champions	St Patrick's Athletic (4th title)
Most successful club(s)	Shamrock Rovers (25 titles)
Website	FAI Cup
	2021 FAI Cup

The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup^[1] (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup^[2] for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry City from Northern Ireland). Organised by the FAI (Football Association of Ireland), the competition is currently sponsored by Extra.ie. It was known as the Free State Cup from 1923 to 1936. Shamrock Rovers hold the record of most wins with 25.

As of November 2021, the current holders are St Patrick's Athletic F.C.

Venues[]

Since the early 1920s until the 1980s, all but a handful of FAI Cup finals were held at Dalymount Park, Dublin. Two replays in the 1920s were held at Shelbourne Park, the 1973 replay was held in Flower Lodge in Cork and the 1984 replay was in Tolka Park. However, since 1990, due to the lack of development of Dalymount, the final has been played at a number of different venues. From 1990 until 1997 it was played at Lansdowne Road stadium, from 1997 to 1999 back at Dalymount, from 1999 to 2002 at Tolka Park and from 2003 to 2006 back at Lansdowne Road. Due to the redevelopment of Lansdowne, the 2007 and 2008 finals were played at the RDS Arena. The 2009 final took place in Tallaght Stadium. Finals from 2010 onwards take place at the Aviva Stadium.

History[]

Shelbourne, Bohemian and Derry City are the only clubs to have won both the (Northern) Irish Cup and the FAI Cup, although Shelbourne and Bohemians only won it before partition, while Derry City remained in the Northern Irish league system until 1973, entering the League of Ireland in 1985. Alton United based in Belfast and Derry City are the only sides from outside the Republic of Ireland to win the competition.

Athlone Town A.F.C. in 1924, Dundalk F.C. in 1958, Shamrock Rovers F.C. in 1968 and Sligo Rovers in 2010 are the only sides ever to win the Cup without conceding a goal.

Since 2003, Irish domestic football has moved from the traditional European August–May season to a summer set-up, as favoured in Scandinavia. As an "interim" season was played in the second half of 2002, two FAI Cup Finals took place that year - Dundalk winning in April, and Derry City lifting the trophy in November.

Following the 1985 expansion of the League of Ireland to two Divisions, Bray Wanderers were the first First Division team to win the Cup, defeating non-League St. Francis in 1990. Bray were also the first team to win the Cup in a season that saw them relegated, in 1999. Dundalk were relegated in 2002 while winning the first of that year's trophies.

After two defeats in Cup Finals in the 1970s, Drogheda United finally reached the summit in 2005. Goals from Gavin Whelan (whose father, Paul, captained Bohemians to the 1992 cup and whose grandfather, , won two cups with St. Patrick's Athletic) and captain Declan O'Brien helped "the Drogs" to a 2–0 win over Cork City.

The last soccer game to be played at the old Lansdowne Road was the 2006 final, contested between St. Patrick's Athletic and Derry City, who ran out eventual 4-3 winners after extra-time. The original FAI Cup was also retired after the game with a brand new version of the trophy to be used in the following seasons.

The largest ever win in the competition occurred on 29 November 2020 when Dundalk beat Athlone Town 11:0 at the semi-final stage.^[3]

FAI Cup Finals[]

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance
1921–22	St. James's Gate	1 – 1 / 1 – 0 (R)	Shamrock Rovers	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	15,000 / 10,000
1922–23	Alton United	1 – 0	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park	14,000
1923–24	Athlone Town	1 – 0	Fordsons	Dalymount Park	18,000
1924–25	Shamrock Rovers	2 – 1	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park	23,000
1925–26	Fordsons	3 – 2	Shamrock Rovers	Dalymount Park	25,000
1926–27	Drumcondra	1 – 1 / 1 – 0 (R)	Brideville	Dalymount Park / Shelbourne Park	25,000 / 10,000
1927–28	Bohemians	2 – 1	Drumcondra	Dalymount Park	25,000
1928–29	Shamrock Rovers	0 – 0 / 3 – 0 (R)	Bohemians	Dalymount Park / Shelbourne Park	22,000 / 15,000
1929–30	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 0	Brideville	Dalymount Park	17,000
1930–31	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 1 / 1 – 0 (R)	Dundalk	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	20,000 / 10,000
1931–32	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 0	Dolphin	Dalymount Park	32,000
1932–33	Shamrock Rovers	3 – 3 / 3 – 0 (R)	Dolphin	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	22,000 / 18,000
1933–34	Cork	2 – 1	St. James's Gate	Dalymount Park	21,000
1934–35	Bohemians	4 – 3	Dundalk	Dalymount Park	22,000
1935–36	Shamrock Rovers	2 – 1	Cork	Dalymount Park	30,946
1936–37	Waterford	2 – 1	St. James's Gate	Dalymount Park	24,000
	St. James's Gate	2 – 1	Dundalk	Dalymount Park	30,000
	Shelbourne	1 – 1 / 1 – 0 (R)	Sligo Rovers	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	30,000 / 25,000
	Shamrock Rovers	3 – 0	Sligo Rovers	Dalymount Park	38,509
	Cork United	2 – 2 / 3 – 1 (R)	Waterford	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	30,132 / 13,057
1941–42	Dundalk	3 – 1	Cork United	Dalymount Park	34,298^[4]
	Drumcondra	2 – 1	Cork United	Dalymount Park	30,549
	Shamrock Rovers	3 – 2	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park	34,000
	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 0	Bohemians	Dalymount Park	41,238
	Drumcondra	2 – 1	Shamrock Rovers	Dalymount Park	34,248
	Cork United	2 – 2 / 2 – 1 (R)	Bohemians	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	20,198 / 5,519
	Shamrock Rovers	2 – 1	Drumcondra	Dalymount Park	33,812
1948–49	Dundalk	3 – 0	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park	28,539
	Transport	2 – 2 / 2 – 2 (R) / 3 – 1 (R)	Cork Athletic	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	28,807 / 21,123 / -
	Cork Athletic	1 – 1 / 1 – 0 (R)	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	38,912 / 22,000
1951–52	Dundalk	1 – 1 / 3 – 0 (R)	Cork Athletic	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	26,479 / 20,753
	Cork Athletic	2 – 2 / 2 – 1 (R)	Evergreen United	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	17,396 / 6,000
	Drumcondra	1 – 0	St. Patrick's Athletic	Dalymount Park	20,000
	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 0	Drumcondra	Dalymount Park	33,041
	Shamrock Rovers	3 – 2	Cork Athletic	Dalymount Park	35,017
	Drumcondra	2 – 0	Shamrock Rovers	Dalymount Park	30,000
1957–58	Dundalk	1 – 0	Shamrock Rovers	Dalymount Park	27,000
	St. Patrick's Athletic	2 – 2 / 2 – 1 (R)	Waterford	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	22,000 / 22,800
	Shelbourne	2 – 0	Cork Hibernians	Dalymount Park	32,308
	St. Patrick's Athletic	2 – 1	Drumcondra	Dalymount Park	22,000
1961–62	Shamrock Rovers	4 – 1	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park	32,000
	Shelbourne	2 – 0	Cork Hibernians	Dalymount Park	15,000
	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 1 / 2 – 1 (R)	Cork Celtic	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	35,500 / 23,600
	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 1 / 1 – 0 (R)	Limerick	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	22,000 / 19,436
	Shamrock Rovers	2 – 0	Limerick	Dalymount Park	26,898
	Shamrock Rovers	3 – 2	St. Patrick's Athletic	Dalymount Park	12,000
	Shamrock Rovers	3 – 0	Waterford	Dalymount Park	39,128
	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 1 / 4 – 1 (R)	Cork Celtic	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	28,000 / 18,000
	Bohemians	0 – 0 / 0 – 0 (R) / 2 –1 (R)	Sligo Rovers	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	16,000 / 11,000 / 22,000
1970–71	Limerick	0 – 0 / 3 – 0 (R)	Drogheda	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	16,000 / 15,000
	Cork Hibernians	3 – 0	Waterford	Dalymount Park	22,500
	Cork Hibernians	0 – 0 / 1 – 0 (R)	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park / Flower Lodge	12,500 / 11,000
	Finn Harps	3 – 1	St. Patrick's Athletic	Dalymount Park	14,000
	Home Farm	1 – 0	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park	10,000
	Bohemians	1 – 0	Drogheda United	Dalymount Park	10,400
1976–77	Dundalk	2 – 0	Limerick	Dalymount Park	17,000
	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 0	Sligo Rovers	Dalymount Park	12,500
1978–79	Dundalk	2 – 0	Waterford	Dalymount Park	14,000
	Waterford	1 – 0	St. Patrick's Athletic	Dalymount Park	18,000
1980–81	Dundalk	2 – 0	Sligo Rovers	Dalymount Park	12,000
1981–82	Limerick United	1 – 0	Bohemians	Dalymount Park	12,000
	Sligo Rovers	2 – 1	Bohemians	Dalymount Park	8,500
	UCD	0 – 0 / 2 – 1 (R)	Shamrock Rovers	Dalymount Park / Tolka Park	8,000 / 6,500
	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 0	Galway United	Dalymount Park	7,000
	Shamrock Rovers	2 – 0	Waterford United	Dalymount Park	11,500
	Shamrock Rovers	3 – 0	Dundalk	Dalymount Park	8,569
1987–88	Dundalk	1 – 0	Derry City	Dalymount Park	21,000
	Derry City	0 – 0 / 1 – 0 (R)	Cork City	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	20,000 / 12,000
	Bray Wanderers	3 – 0	St. Francis	Lansdowne Road	29,000
	Galway United	1 – 0	Shamrock Rovers	Lansdowne Road	15,257
	Bohemians	1 – 0	Cork City	Lansdowne Road	17,000
	Shelbourne	1 – 0	Dundalk	Lansdowne Road	11,000
	Sligo Rovers	1 – 0	Derry City	Lansdowne Road	13,800
	Derry City	2 – 1	Shelbourne	Lansdowne Road	15,000
	Shelbourne	1 – 1 / 2 – 1 (R)	St. Patrick's Athletic	Lansdowne Road / Dalymount Park	15,000 / 10,000
	Shelbourne	2 – 0	Derry City	Dalymount Park	10,000
	Cork City	0 – 0 / 1 – 0 (R)	Shelbourne	Dalymount Park / Dalymount Park	- / -
	Bray Wanderers	0 – 0 / 2 – 2 (R) / 2 – 1 (R)	Finn Harps	Tolka Park / Tolka Park / Tolka Park	8,000 / - / 5,000
	Shelbourne	0 – 0 / 1 – 0 (R)	Bohemians	Tolka Park / Dalymount Park	9,000 / 9,000
2000–01	Bohemians	1 – 0	Longford Town	Tolka Park	10,100
2001–02	Dundalk	2 – 1	Bohemians	Tolka Park	10,100
(Interim)	Derry City	1 – 0	Shamrock Rovers	Tolka Park	10,100
	Longford Town	2 – 0	St. Patrick's Athletic	Lansdowne Road	12,000
2004	Longford Town	2 – 1	Waterford United	Lansdowne Road	9,676
2005	Drogheda United	2 – 0	Cork City	Lansdowne Road	24,521
2006	Derry City	4 – 3 (a.e.t.)	St. Patrick's Athletic	Lansdowne Road	16,022
2007	Cork City	1 – 0	Longford Town	RDS	10,000
2008	Bohemians	2 – 2 (a.e.t.) 4 – 2 (pen.)	Derry City	RDS	10,281
2009	Sporting Fingal	2 – 1	Sligo Rovers	Tallaght Stadium	8,105
2010	Sligo Rovers	0 – 0 (a.e.t.) 2 – 0 (pen.)	Shamrock Rovers	Aviva Stadium	36,101
2011	Sligo Rovers	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 4 – 1 (pen.)	Shelbourne	Aviva Stadium	21,662
2012	Derry City	3 – 2 (a.e.t.)	St. Patrick's Athletic	Aviva Stadium	16,117
2013	Sligo Rovers	3 – 2	Drogheda United	Aviva Stadium	17,573
2014	St. Patrick's Athletic	2 – 0	Derry City	Aviva Stadium	17,038
2015	Dundalk	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Cork City	Aviva Stadium	25,103
2016	Cork City	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Dundalk	Aviva Stadium	26,400
2017	Cork City	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 5 – 3 (pen.)	Dundalk	Aviva Stadium	24,210
2018	Dundalk	2 – 1	Cork City	Aviva Stadium	30,412
2019	Shamrock Rovers	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 4 – 2 (pen.)	Dundalk	Aviva Stadium	33,111
2020	Dundalk	4 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Shamrock Rovers	Aviva Stadium	0*
2021	St. Patrick's Athletic	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) 4 – 3 (pen.)	Bohemians	Aviva Stadium	37,126
^*Denotes match in which Covid-19 restrictions limited attendance

Performances[]

Performance by club[]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years
Shamrock Rovers	25	10	1924–1925, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1935–36, 1939–1940, 1943–1944, 1944–1945, 1947–48, 1954–1955, 1955–1956, 1961–62, 1963–1964, 1964–1965, 1965–1966, 1966–1967, 1967–1968, 1968–1969, 1977–1978, 1984–1985, 1985–1986, 1986–87, 2019
Dundalk	12	8	1941–1942, 1948–1949, 1951–1952, 1957–1958, 1976–1977, 1978–1979, 1980–1981, 1987–1988, 2001–2002, 2015, 2018, 2020
Shelbourne	7	11	1938–1939, 1959–1960, 1962–1963, 1992–1993, 1995–1996, 1996–1997, 1999–2000
Bohemians	7	8	1927–28, 1934–35, 1969–1970, 1975–1976, 1991–1992, 2000–2001, 2008
Sligo Rovers	5	6	1982–1983, 1993–1994, 2010, 2011, 2013
Derry City^[1]	5	5	1988–1989, 1994–1995, 2002, 2006, 2012
Drumcondra	5	4	1926–1927, 1942–1943, 1945–1946, 1953–1954, 1956–1957
St. Patrick's Athletic	4	8	1958–1959, 1960–1961, 2014, 2021
Cork City	4	5	1997–1998, 2007, 2016, 2017
Waterford^[2]	2	7	1936–37, 1979–1980
Cork Athletic	2	3	1950–1951, 1952–1953
Limerick^[3]	2	3	1970–71, 1981–82
Cork/Fordsons	2	2	1925–26, 1933–1934
Cork Hibernians	2	2	1971–1972, 1972–1973
Cork United	2	2	1940–1941, 1946–1947
Longford Town	2	2	2003, 2004
St. James's Gate	2	2	1921–22, 1937–1938
Bray Wanderers	2	-	1989–1990, 1998–1999
Drogheda United^[4]	1	3	2005
Finn Harps	1	1	1973–1974
Galway United	1	1	1990–1991
Alton United	1	-	1922–23
Athlone Town	1	-	1923–1924
Transport	1	-	1949–1950
Home Farm	1	-	1974–1975
UCD AFC	1	-	1983–1984
Sporting Fingal	1	-	2009
Cork Celtic^[5]	-	3	-
Brideville	-	2	-
Dolphin	-	2	-
St. Francis	-	1	-

Notes:

1 ^ Since 1985 when Derry City joined to the league.
2 ^ Includes Waterford.
3 ^ Includes Limerick United.
4 ^ Includes Drogheda.
5 ^ Includes Evergreen United.

References[]

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "FAI ANNOUNCE 1ST DIGITAL SPONSOR WITH THE EXTRA.IE FAI CUP". www.extra.ie. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
^ Newberry, Niall. "Dundalk put 11 past Athlone in record-breaking FAI Cup hammering". The42. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
^ "DUNDALK'S FIRST CUP Dublin issue - British Pathé". britishpathe.com. Retrieved 17 March 2018.

External links[]

[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[2] "FAI ANNOUNCE 1ST DIGITAL SPONSOR WITH THE EXTRA.IE FAI CUP". www.extra.ie. Retrieved 10 July 2019.

[3] Newberry, Niall. "Dundalk put 11 past Athlone in record-breaking FAI Cup hammering". The42. Retrieved 30 June 2021.

[4] "DUNDALK'S FIRST CUP Dublin issue - British Pathé". britishpathe.com. Retrieved 17 March 2018.

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v t FAI Cup
Seasons	1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1961–62 1970–71 1981–82 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Finals	1923 1942 1949 1952 1958 1977 1979 1981 1982 1988 1999 2000 2001 April 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

v t UEFA members national football cups
Current	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Defunct	Czechoslovakia East Germany Serbia and Montenegro USSR Yugoslavia
Non-UEFA	Monaco Vatican City