2011 FAI Cup

2011 FAI Cup

FAI Ford Cup
Tournament details
Country	Republic of Ireland
Teams	45
Final positions
Champions	Sligo Rovers
Runner-up	Shelbourne
← 2010 2012 →

The 2011 FAI Senior Challenge Cup, also known as the 2011 FAI Ford Cup, is the 91st season of the national football competition of the Republic of Ireland. The winners of the competition will earn spots in both the second qualifying round^[1] of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League and the 2012 Setanta Sports Cup.

A total of 45 teams competed in the 2011 competition which commenced on the weekend ending on 20 March 2011.^{[citation needed]} The 21 teams entered from the 2011 League of Ireland 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 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

Round	Clubs remaining	Clubs involved	Winners from previous round	New entries this round	Leagues entering at this round
First round	45	4	none	4	Leinster Senior League
Second round	43	22	2	20	A Championship Munster Senior League Ulster Senior League
Third round	32	32	11	21	Premier Division First Division
Fourth round	16	16	16	none	none
Quarter-finals	8	8	8	none	none
Semi-finals	4	4	4	none	none
Final	2	2	2	none	none

Calendar

The calendar for the 2011 FAI Cup, as announced by Football Association of Ireland.

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs	New entries this round	Prize money
First round	20 March 2011	2	45 → 43	4: 42nd–45th	n/a
Second round	17 April 2011	11	43 → 32	20: 22nd–41st	n/a
Third round	3 June 2011	16	32 → 16	21: 1st–21st	n/a
Fourth round	26 August 2011	8	16 → 8	none	n/a
Quarter-finals	18 September 2011	4	8 → 4	none	n/a
Semi-finals	n/a	2	4 → 2	none	n/a
Final	n/a	1	2 → 1	none	Winner €50,000 runner – up €25,000

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.^[2] Only four of the 24 non-League of Ireland 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.^[2] The two winners from the first round joined the remaining 20 non-League of Ireland 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 2011 League of Ireland will be joined by the 11 winners of the second round.^[2] The draw for the third round was made on 9 May 2011 on Monday Night Soccer on RTÉ Two.^[3] 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 Monday Night Soccer.

• Note 1: After a 3–2 victory for Sheriff Y.C. 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.^[4][5]

Final rounds

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	Dundalk		0 0
	Bohemians		0 1
						Bohemians		0
						Sligo Rovers		1
	Cork City		0
	St. Patrick's Athletic		1
											Sligo Rovers		4 (pen)
											Shelbourne		1
	Sligo Rovers		1
	Shamrock Rovers		0
						St. Patrick's Athletic		1 1
						Shelbourne		1 3
	Shelbourne		4
	Limerick		3

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 Monday Night Soccer. 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 Monday Night Soccer on 26 September 2011, after the first 3 games, but before the Shelbourne v Limerick game. Ties will be played on the weekend of 14 and 16 October 2011.

Final

External links

• Official competition website

References