The 2011 FAI Senior Challenge Cup, also known as the 2011 FAI Ford Cup, is the 91st season of the national

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 ...

competition of Ireland. The winners of the competition will earn spots in both the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League and the

2012 Setanta Sports Cup The 2012 Setanta Sports Cup was the seventh staging of the Setanta Sports Cup, an annual association football competition featuring clubs from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It commenced on 11 February 2012 and ended on 12 May 2012, ...

. A total of 45 teams competed in the 2011 competition which commenced on the weekend ending on 20 March 2011. The 21 teams entered from the

2011 League of Ireland The 2011 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 27th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The league was also known as the Airtricity League for sponsorship reasons. The division featured 10 teams. Shamrock Rovers were champions ...

Premier and First divisions received byes into the third round stage while the remaining 24 teams entered at the first and Second round stages with all but four of these teams receiving byes into the second round. These 24 teams composed of four

2011 A Championship The 2011 A Championship was the fourth and final season of the A Championship in Ireland. The season was sponsored by Newstalk. The league featured 16 teams. Derry City A were the champions, while UCD A finished as runners up. Pool 1 ...

non-reserve clubs, the sixteen clubs from the fourth round of the 2010–11 FAI Intermediate Cup and the semifinalists of the 2010–11 FAI Junior Cup.

Teams

Calendar

The calendar for the 2011 FAI Cup, as announced by

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

Preliminary rounds

First round

The draw for this round was conducted by FAI President Paddy McCaul and former player Paul Whelan at the FAI headquarters in Abbotstown on 7 March 2011. Only four of the 24 non-

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

clubs participated in this round, with the remaining 20 clubs earning a bye to the second round. The matches were played on the weekend ending 20 March 2011.

Second round

Like for the first round, the draw for this round was conducted by FAI President Paddy McCaul and former player Paul Whelan at the FAI headquarters in Abbotstown on 7 March 2011. The two winners from the first round joined the remaining 20 non-

clubs in this round. The matches were played on the weekend ending 17 April 2011.

Third round

In this round, the 21 clubs of the

will be joined by the 11 winners of the second round. The draw for the third round was made on 9 May 2011 on ''

Monday Night Soccer ''Monday Night Soccer'' is a former football television programme shown on RTÉ Two each Monday evening during the football season. Presented by Peter Collins, he was usually joined by two guests, like manager Damien Richardson and former Millw ...

'' on

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

. The Third round games will be played on the weekend ending 5 June 2011.

Fourth round

The draw for the fourth round was made on 13 July 2011 on

. *Note 1: After a 3–2 victory for

Sheriff Y.C. Sheriff Youth Club is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Sheriff Street, Dublin. Their senior team plays in the Athletic Union League (Dublin), Athletic Union League. They ha ...

they were subsequently found to have fielded an ineligible player and were ejected from the cup. Shelbourne were awarded a 3–0 victory and qualified for the Quarter-finals.

Final rounds

Quarter-finals

The draw for the Quarter-finals, conducted by Vice President of FAI, Tony Fitzgerald and Women's Ireland national team manager Susan Ronan, took place on 29 August 2011 on

. Fixtures took place on the weekend of 18 September 2011.

Semifinals

The draw for the semi-finals was conducted by Paul Osam and FAI President Paddy McCaul during

on 26 September 2011, after the first 3 games, but before the Shelbourne v

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

game. Ties will be played on the weekend of 14 and 16 October 2011.

Final

External links

Official competition website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fai Cup, 2011

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...