1987–88 Irish Cup

1987–88 Irish Cup

Tournament details
Country	Northern Ireland
Teams	23
Defending champions	Glentoran
Final positions
Champions	Glentoran (14th win)
Runner-up	Glenavon
Tournament statistics
Matches played	25
Goals scored	77 (3.08 per match)

The 1987–88 Irish Cup was the 108th edition of the Irish Cup, Northern Ireland's premier football knock-out cup competition. It concluded on 30 April 1988 with the final.

Glentoran were the defending champions after winning their 13th Irish Cup last season by beating Larne 1–0 in the 1987 final. They successfully defended the cup to win it for the fourth year running by beating Glenavon 1–0 in the final. In doing so, they became the first club in history to win four consecutive Irish Cups. To date, the feat has not been achieved again.

Results

Qualifying round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Omagh Town	1–2	Brantwood

First preliminary round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Banbridge Town	2–1	Dungannon Swifts
Brantwood	2–0	Tobermore United
Chimney Corner	2–1	Ballyclare Comrades
Cookstown United	0–3	Dunmurry Rec.

Second preliminary round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Banbridge Town	4–2	Brantwood
Dunmurry Rec.	6–1	Chimney Corner

First round

The 14 top flight clubs entered in this round, along with the 2 lower league winners from the second preliminary round.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Ards	4–2	Bangor
Ballymena United	4–0	Dunmurry Rec.
Carrick Rangers	1–2	Glenavon
Cliftonville	0–1	Distillery
Larne	1–1	Linfield
Portadown	3–1	Banbridge Town
Glentoran	3–0	Coleraine
Newry Town	3–0	Crusaders

Replay

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Linfield	1–0	Larne

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Ballymena United	0–0	Distillery
Glenavon	2–1	Ards
Glentoran	5–0	Newry Town
Linfield	1–1	Portadown

Replays

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Distillery	0–3	Ballymena United
Portadown	2–0	Linfield

Semi-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Glenavon	2–0	Ballymena United
Glentoran	3–2	Portadown

Final

30 April 1988

Glentoran	1 – 0	Glenavon
Cleary 89' (pen.)	Report

Windsor Park, Belfast