The race for the Irish FA Women’s Challenge Cup reaches the semi-final stage tonight, with two eagerly anticipated ties taking place.
Lisburn Ladies will face Glentoran Women at Solitude in Belfast, while Crusaders Strikers take on holders Cliftonville Ladies at Dixon Park in Ballyclare.
Both semi-finals will kick off at 8pm on Friday 11 September, with admission priced at £5 for adults and £3 for concessions. Both cash and card payments will be available at the turnstiles.
The two ties promise plenty of intrigue, with four sides competing for a place in this season’s Irish FA Women’s Challenge Cup Final.
Glentoran Women head into their semi-final as the competition’s most successful side, having lifted the trophy 11 times.
They will face a Lisburn Ladies side hoping to cause an upset and reach the final.
Lisburn produced a strong performance against Glentoran in their most recent meeting and Hayley Jones believes her side can take confidence from that display:
“Hopefully, we can pull out a win and a shock. We played Glens Friday past and it was one of the best performances collectively. Going into the next game we can take on the positives and negatives and work on that. Hopefully we will get a better result this week.”
Glentoran midfielder,
Emily Wilson, says her side will focus on delivering a disciplined performance while ensuring they secure their place in the final.
“I think we want a good performance, the main thing is we want the win no matter what. That’s the ultimate thing for us, to come away with the win.
“We need to make sure that we’re focusing on our game plan and our style of play and we need to be patient. That’s the main thing, but they’ll be a good side for us to play against on Friday.”
At Dixon Park, reigning champions Cliftonville Ladies will meet Crusaders Strikers in an all-Premiership semi-final.
Cliftonville retained the Women’s Challenge Cup in 2025 with a 2-0 victory over Linfield Women, with Caitlin McGuinness and Player of the Match Fi Morgan scoring in the first half as the Reds lifted the trophy for a second consecutive year.
McGuinness knows Cliftonville will need to be at their best against a Crusaders side capable of making life difficult for the holders:
“We start fresh every year, but the girls are more experienced with being in big games like this.
“We know what Crus are like, it’ll be a tough game. It’s always a tough game against them. We know what we need to do, work hard this week both on and off the pitch and hopefully on Friday night we get the outcome that we want.”
Crusaders captain, Julie Nelson, is expecting a major test but says her side will be focused on producing their best performance and securing a place in the final.
“I think we know it’s going to be a massive challenge to go and play Cliftonville. They’re a team with lots of quality and lots of experience, but our aim is to go and put in the best performance we can and show the best version of ourselves and hopefully get into an Irish Cup final.”
With two competitive semi-finals taking place simultaneously, supporters can expect an exciting night of cup football as four clubs battle for a place in the showpiece final.
Glentoran Women have dominated the competition historically with 11 titles, while Cliftonville Ladies have emerged as the recent force, winning the trophy in both 2024 and 2025.
The previous 10 winners are:
- 2025 – Cliftonville Ladies
- 2024 – Cliftonville Ladies
- 2023 – Glentoran Women
- 2022 – Glentoran Women
- 2021 – Glentoran Women
- 2019 – Glentoran Women
- 2018 – Glentoran Women
- 2017 – Sion Swifts Ladies
- 2016 – Linfield Ladies
- 2015 – Cliftonville Ladies
With a place in the Irish FA Women’s Challenge Cup Final at stake, both semi-finals promise to provide an exciting night of action.
