2016–17 Irish Cup


The 2016–17 Irish Cup was the 137th edition of the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its introduction in 1881. The competition began on 19 August 2016 and concluded with the final at Windsor Park on 6 May 2017.
Glenavon were the defending champions, after they lifted the cup for the seventh time by defeating Linfield 2–0 in the 2016 final. They were eliminated at the semi-final stage. The competition was won by Linfield, who defeated Coleraine 3-0 in the final.

Format and Schedule

126 clubs entered this season's competition, an decrease of three clubs compared with the 2015–16 total of 129 clubs. 12 members of the NIFL Premier Intermediate League and 90 regional league clubs from tiers 4–7 in the Northern Ireland football league system entered the competition in the first round, 26 of whom received a bye to proceed directly into the second round as necessitated by the number of participants. These clubs contested the first four 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 Round20 August 201638126 → 88
Second Round1 October 20163288 → 64
Third Round5 November 20161664 → 48
Fourth Round3 December 2016848 → 32
Fifth Round7 January 20171632 → 16
Sixth Round4 February 2017816 → 8
Quarter-Finals4 March 201748 → 4
Semi-Finals1 April 201724 → 2
Final6 May 201712 → 1

TiersLeaguesNo. of EntriesEntry round
1NIFL Premiership24Fifth Round
2NIFL Championship24Fifth Round
3NIFL Premier Intermediate League102First Round
4Ballymena & Provincial Football League Premier Division
Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate A
Northern Amateur Football League Premier Division
Northern Ireland Intermediate League		102First Round
5Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate B
Northern Amateur Football League Division 1A		102First Round
6Northern Amateur Football League Division 1B102First Round
7Northern Amateur Football League Division 1C102First Round

Results

First round

Ties to be play on 20 August 2016. Twenty-six clubs received byes into the second round: Ardglass, Ards Rangers, Ballymoney United, Ballynahinch United, Barn United, Camlough Rovers, Crumlin Star, Donard Hospital, Dromara Village, Drumaness Mills, Dundela, Killyleagh Youth, Larne Tech. Old Boys, Lisburn Rangers, Maiden City, Mossley Young Men, Nortel, Portstewart, Richhill A.F.C., St Luke's, St Mary's Youth, Seagoe, Short Brothers, Strabane Athletic, Tobermore United and Wakehurst. Maiden City later withdrew.

Second round

Due to there being an uneven number of clubs left on account of Maiden City's withdrawal, in the draw Dollingstown received a bye to the third round.

Third round

Ties played on 5 November 2016.

Fourth round

Ties played on 3 December 2016.

Fifth Round

Ties played on 7 January 2017. The draw resulted in a clash between Belfast's Big Two.

Sixth Round

Ties to be played on 4 February 2017.

Quarter-Finals

The 8 winners of the sixth round matches entered the quarter-finals. The draw took place on 5 February 2017, with the matches to be played on 4 March 2017. As the only representative from the NIFL Championship, Warrenpoint Town was the lowest-ranked club to reach the quarter-finals.

Semi-Finals

The 4 winners of the Quarter Finals entered the Semi finals with the ties played on 1 April 2017 with Linfield and Coleraine advancing to contest the 2017 final.

Final

and Coleraine contested the final with Linfield winning 3–0 to secure the Cup for a record 43rd time, and claim their first league and cup double since 2012. Andrew Waterworth became the first player in 48 years to score a hat trick in an Irish Cup final. Billy McAvoy had been the last player to achieve the feat, having done so for Ards in their 4–2 win over Distillery in the 1969 final replay.