The 2015 FAI Senior Challenge Cup, also known as the 2015 FAI Irish Daily Mail Senior Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 95th 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 the Republic of Ireland. The winners of the competition earned a spot in the

first qualifying round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the

2016–17 UEFA Europa League The 2016–17 UEFA Europa League was the 46th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the eighth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played between Ajax and ...

. A total of 40 teams competed in the 2015 competition, which commenced in March 2015. The teams entered from the

2015 League of Ireland The 2015 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 31st season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. Dundalk were champions and Cork City finished as runners-up. Teams Stadia and locations Personnel and kits Note: Flags indicate na ...

Premier Division and

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received byes into the second round stage. Four non-league clubs also received byes to the second round. The remaining 12 teams entered at the first round stage. These non-league teams are composed of the sixteen clubs, which reached the fourth round of the 2014–15 FAI Intermediate Cup, and the semi-finalists of the

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvie ...

in 2014–15.

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won the cup after a 1–0 win against

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

in the

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on 8 November.

Teams

First round

The draw for the First Round of the FAI Cup was made on 7 April 2015 at Abbotstown by FAI President Tony Fitzgerald and Brendan Clarke. 20 intermediate and junior clubs were present in the draw.

Second round

The draw for the Second Round of the FAI Cup was made on 6 May 2015 at the Aviva Stadium by Paul McGrath and FAI President Tony Fitzgerald and contained 32 teams, with the 20 League of Ireland teams entering the competition. Ties played on the weekend ending 31 May 2015.

Third round

The draw for the third round took place in Sligo on 17 July and was made by Republic of Ireland manager

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish Leag ...

and FAI president Tony Fitzgerald. Fixtures were played on the weekend of August 23.

Quarter-final

The draw for the quarter-finals of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup were made on 23 August with Irish under 21 manager Noel King and FAI Director of Competitions Fran Gavin overseeing proceedings. Ties were played on Friday 11 September. The draw featured 6 League of Ireland Premier Division teams and 2 non-league sides.

Semi finals

The draw was made by former Republic of Ireland international Keith Fahey, who was a member of the St Patrick’s Athletic team that won the trophy in 2014, and Fran Gavin, Director of Competitions at the Football Association of Ireland. The draw was broadcast live on RTE Radio One’s Morning Ireland programme and also on RTE News Now. On Friday 2 October Dundalk defeated Longford Town 2 - 0. Cork City defeated Bray Wanderers 1-0 on Sunday 4 October. The match was broadcast live on RTÉ2.

Final

References

External links

Official websiteFull fixtures and results
{{2015–16 in European football (UEFA) FAI Cup seasons