The 2018

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

(known as the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 98th edition of the Republic of Ireland's primary national cup competition. It began with the qualifying round on 21 April 2018, and concluded with the final on 4 November 2018. The winner qualified for the 2019–20 Europa League first qualifying round. Cork City were the defending champions but lost in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

2–1 to

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is hal ...

Qualifying round

The draw for the qualifying round was made on 4 April 2018. FAI President Tony Fitzgerald was joined by Dundalk goalkeeper and three-time winner

Gary Rogers Gary Rogers (born 25 September 1981) is an Irish coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or k ...

and ''Irish Daily Mail'' Circulation Manager, David Vaz, to perform the draw. A total of 20 teams entered the qualifying round, with four teams ( Home Farm, Cockhill Celtic, Newmarket Celtic and Blarney United) receiving a bye to the first round proper. The remaining 16 teams played eight games, with the winners entering the first round proper. The ''Irish Daily Mail'' offered a cash prize for the non-league team who advanced the furthest in the competition.

First round

The draw for the first round proper was made on 4 July 2018 at the Aviva Stadium, with

Damien Duff Damien Anthony Duff (born 2 March 1979) is an Irish professional football manager and former player who played predominantly as a winger. He has been the manager of League of Ireland club Shelbourne F.C. since November 2021. He began his pro ...

as special guest. 12 non-League teams entered the draw along with the 20 teams from the League of Ireland. Fixtures took place on the week ending 12 August 2018.

Second round

The second round draw was held on 13 August 2018, producing just one all-

Premier Division Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of gov ...

tie. All fixtures were played on the weekend ending August 26

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was broadcast live on

RTÉ2 RTÉ2 is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched in 1978 as the Republic of Ireland's second television channel. History In the 1970s, the Iri ...

Soccer Republic ''Soccer Republic'' is RTÉ's main football television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two on Monday nights during the Irish football season, showing highlights of recent matches in Irish football's top division, the League of Ireland Premier Divi ...

on 27 August 2018. All fixtures were set to be played on the week ending 9 September 2018. The game between Derry City and

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origi ...

was postponed until 19 September as Derry City had four players called up to under-21 squads. The game between

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the mee ...

and

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the c ...

was televised live on RTÉ2.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was broadcast live on RTÉ2's Soccer Republic on 10 September 2018. Both games were played the weekend ending 30 September and televised live on RTÉ2. The subsequent replay between

and

was also broadcast live on RTÉ2.

Final

References

External links

{{2018–19 in European football (UEFA) FAI Cup seasons