Irish Cup to resume behind closed doors at Windsor Park at end of July
- Published
Mick McDermott, Paddy McLaughlin, Oran Kearney and David Jeffrey are the managers of the four clubs in the Irish Cup semi-finals
The 2019-20 Irish Cup is to resume behind closed doors at Windsor Park, with the semi-finals and final to be played during the last week of July.
The semi-finals will take place at 16:00 BST and 20:00 BST on Monday 27 July, with the final kicking off at 20:00 on Friday 31 July.
Cliftonville will face Glentoran and Ballymena United will play Coleraine.
The Irish FA's Irish Cup committee will decide the order of the semi-final matches next week.
The IFA revealed on Tuesday night that it had written to all four clubs still involved in the competition to confirm their intention to complete the competition.
It is understood that the four clubs have indicated that they are willing to play the games.
There will be no spectators at either of the semi-finals or the final.
The semi-final games will be the first football played in Northern Ireland since March when the coronavirus pandemic restrictions saw proceedings brought to a halt.
The cup winners will progress to the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, unless Coleraine win the competition and are also awarded second place in the Irish Premiership under the mathematical formula being used to decide final league positions.
In that case, the third-placed team in the league would qualify to play in the Europa League.
It was decided on Monday night that the Premiership would finish without further games being played but the IFA has been keen to complete the Irish Cup provided satisfactory health and safety considerations are met.
Ballymena manager David Jeffrey will not be on the sideline for his team's semi-final as he serves a one-match ban which was reduced from five matches last week.