We now know our opponents in the early rounds of the cup draws for:
- Toals Steel & Sons Cup,
- Border Regt. Cup and
- The Tennent’s Irish Cup.
Steel & Sons Cup Draws
We will play Crewe United on Saturday 10 August at 2.30pm in the Toals Steel & Sons Cup, First Round. The tie will be played at Crewe Park.
On 2 July, the Second Round ties were also announced. The winners of our fixture against Crewe United will visit East Belfast FC or Bangor FC on 24 August at 2.30pm.
We’ve made it to the Second Round for six years in a row. Last season, we were knocked out of the Steel & Sons Cup in Round 2 when we lost 4-0 to St James’ Swifts at The Millbridge. While in 2013, we made it to Round 3 and lost to a strong Ballyclare Comrades side.
Border Regiment Cup
In the Border Regt Cup, we will play against NAFL Div 1B new boys, Aquinas FC.
We will play Aquinas FC on Saturday 31 August at Rathmore School and the match will kick off at 2pm.
In previous years, we have made it to the third round of the Border Cup, however in 1989/90, we won the winning the Amateur League’s Border Regiment Cup when the team beat British Telecom on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
Tennent’s Irish Cup
Meanwhile, in the Tennent’s Irish Cup draw on 8 July, we were drawn another away tie – this time to Strabane FC on 17 August. Our kick off for Irish Cup games is at 1.30pm.
Our best run in the Irish Cup came in 2013 when we got to the 5th Round. On 9 January we traveled to the North Coast to face NIFL Premiership side, Coleraine FC. The score was 0-0 at half time, but finished 8-0 to the favourites. The aim will be to get to that stage again and further in the other Northern Ireland cup competitions.
We will keep you up to date on the next round of cup draws.