That's a surprisingly good first round draw IMO. A few all-Premier fixtures incuding a couple of tasty ones to whet the appetite. A few real potential banana skins too. And then a couple fo all non-league draws to keep the romance going into the next round. All-in-all this has a lot more going for it than most first-rouund-proper draws, which tend to be fairly predictable affairs.
Really wanted to avoid a non league team away. I would be going into that game with zero confidence. We have struggled and indeed lost to non league teams with much better squads
Ringmahon drew 3-3 with Treaty in the Munster Senior Cup, losing 3-4 after extra time.
The FAI Cup final has been getting some good crowds in recent years. This is influenced by who makes the final. Would it be unfair to seed FAI Cup draws based on league placing from the previous year?
The FAI Cup first round is on the weekend of July 21/22/23.
https://foot.ie/forums/117-Kerry-FC
A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
So the Dundalk/Rovers, Derry/Athlone and Longford/Pats games are likely to be on Sunday 23rd July, due to European gammes on Thursday 20th? Or will Rovers be in Europe on the Tuesday, and Dundalk on a bye for that round - so that fixture can go ahead on the Friday as usual?
If Cockhill and Kilbarrack have any sense they'll ensure their games aren't scheduled to clash with the Derry and Bohs ones.
Im a traditionalist so open draw every time! Too contrived and GAA/UEFA like to link league and cup competitions or seed a cup draw. I suppose seedings could improve the chances of non-league/1st division clubs getting a marquee draw but it also messes with the chance of progression by meeting clubs of a similar level.
Rovers playing Europe 18/19/20 July, Dundalk do not have a bye (but are seeded 2 rounds) and will be playing ECL first round second leg on 20/07, so I`d imagine the FAI Cup game will be 5pm on Sun 23/07.
Can also see Derry/Athlone and Longford/Pats also moving to Sundays as both in bold will be playing ECL also on 20/07.
For any of the teams coming back from an away euro game its obviously not ideal.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
https://foot.ie/forums/117-Kerry-FC
A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
Three premier división Clubs guaranteed to go out and one or two tricky games where PD clubs could fall foul. Curious to see what kind of team rovers put out v Dundalk with the league being tighter and Europe coming up.
Plus remember folks, no replays again, all games to be decided on the day.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
UCD v Cobh has never been played in the FAI Cup btw.
Don't know if there's any other first-time ties involving league teams?
Wexford and Kerry the only current league teams we've never played in the FAI Cup now. Avoided Shels until two years ago.
Am I right in thinking that there are replays ONLY in the QF and SF?
I don't know how I feel about scrapping the replays - obviously it makes sense for the clubs in Europe. With many non-league clubs unable to host games anyway it's hardly any use for them to "earn" a replay. Like I doubt Kilbarrack would welcome a midweek trip to Finn Harps in the event of a draw. Replays can add to the epic nature of a tie though.
I phoned the speaking clock to hear a voice speak, it said - "At the tone you will be very much alone"
Funnily enough Wexford and Kerry are the two league teams we've never played in the cup. We have played at Ferrycarrig Park in the cup though as we've twice been drawn against North End United, once at home and once away.
This will be our 19th tie against a non-league club. We have won 17 of the previous 18 (which is probably better than nearly every other club I'm guessing) - only losing to Cobh Ramblers in 1981.
I phoned the speaking clock to hear a voice speak, it said - "At the tone you will be very much alone"
We were unbeaten until losing to Sheriff in 2015, a month before beating Dudelange in Europe. Our record is almost identical so - 18 wins from 19 ties, including two replays and one extra time win.
Is it Pat's the only LoI club never to have lost to a non-league side in the Cup, bar the obvious Kerry? Possibly Wexford too actually?
Wexford lost to Crumlin in 2017.
We have been taken to 2 replays against non-league clubs and had a penalty shoot-out win over Killester, so if we beat Bangor in normal time our records will be identical apart from an Extra-Time win instead of a Shootout win!
That does ring a bell about St Pat's alright.
I phoned the speaking clock to hear a voice speak, it said - "At the tone you will be very much alone"
I actually do think the FAI needs to look at reconfiguring where the best clubs enter into the cup.
Reckon even just letting the 4 European teams into the last 16 would help a lot (as well as helping with their fixture congestion). The 16 other LOI teams + 8 junior teams in an open draw can make up the other 12.
There's very little point having so many junior clubs have the opportunity of playing a club like Shamrock Rovers or Derry.
Too many weak teams making it to semi finals and diluting the big occasions imo, I know there a romance element and fair play to Wexford for their run last year.
Might be a bit of a crazy suggestion but would think letting the LOI underage only entities into round 1 could be interesting. Klub Kildare, CK United, etc. They can't be too much worse than the junior clubs around the country and at least it's in the middle of their season.
No offence but this is a pretty terrible idea I reckon.
Of the last 10 finals (i.e. 20 finalists) six have been champions, seven have been runners-up, three finished third, one finished 5th, one 7th and twice the 8th placed finisher reached the cup final (that was 10 and 9 years ago!)
In all those finals the winners have been a team that finished in the top 4, so the last time 4th placed didn't end up qualifying for Europe was when Derry won the cup in 2012 (they finished 5th) had they lost that final to St Pat's, 4th placed Shamrock Rovers would have qualified.
In summary the better teams don't need any help at all to get further!
I phoned the speaking clock to hear a voice speak, it said - "At the tone you will be very much alone"
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