The 2018 Scottish Challenge Cup final, also known as the IRN-BRU Cup final for sponsorship reasons, was a football match that took place on 24 March 2018 at McDiarmid Park, between Dumbarton and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.^[1] It was the 27th final of the Scottish Challenge Cup since it was first organised in 1990 to celebrate the centenary of the now defunct Scottish Football League, and the fifth since the SPFL was formed. The match was won by Inverness CT 1–0 with a stoppage time winner, marking their second win in the tournament since its inception and their first silverware since the 2014–15 Scottish Cup.

Route to the final

The competition is a knock-out tournament and was contested by 56 teams from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 2017–18.^[2] Two teams from the Republic of Ireland were added to the competition in 2017–18,^[2] following the addition of teams from Wales and Northern Ireland in 2016–17.^[3]

Those participating were the 30 clubs that played in the 2017–18 Championship, League One and League Two of the Scottish Professional Football League along with the top four teams from the 2016–17 Highland and Lowland Leagues. The top two teams from the 2016–17 Welsh Premier League and 2016–17 NIFL Premiership and the U20s squads of the teams competing in the 2016–17 Premiership were also invited to compete.^[2] Bray Wanderers and Sligo Rovers, as the League of Ireland's highest-ranked non-European participants in 2016, were also invited.^[2]

Dumbarton

Round	Opposition	Score
First round	Rangers Under-20s (h)	2–1
Second round	Connah's Quay Nomads (h)	2–1 (a.e.t.)
Third round	Stranraer (h)	2–1
Quarter-final	Raith Rovers (h)	2–0
Semi-final	The New Saints (a)	2–1

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Inverness received a bye to the second round, as the team that had finished 12th in the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership.

Round	Opposition	Score
Second round	Aberdeen Under-20s (a)	4–2
Third round	Peterhead (h)	3–0
Quarter-final	Falkirk (h)	1–0
Semi-final	Crusaders (h)	3–2

Match details

24 March 2018

16:15

Final

Dumbarton	0–1	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
	Report	Tremarco 90+3'

McDiarmid Park, Perth

Attendance: 4,602

Referee: Andrew Dallas

Dumbarton

Inverness CT

Dumbarton: GK 1 Scott Gallacher RB 2 David Smith CB 4 Andy Dowie (c) CB 55 Craig Barr LB 3 Christopher McLaughlin CM 6 Stuart Carswell CM 14 Kyle Hutton AM 21 Danny Handling FW 10 Tom Walsh  81' FW 7 Calum Gallagher  74' FW 23 Iain Russell  68' Substitutes: GK 19 Jamie Ewings MF 5 Grant Gallagher MF 8 David Wilson FW 9 Mark Stewart  74' DF 15 Dougie Hill MF 20 Dimitris Froxylias  68' MF 31 Liam Burt  81' Manager: Stephen Aitken

Inverness Caledonian Thistle: GK 28 Mark Ridgers RB 17 Collin Seedorf CB 5 Gary Warren (c) CB 23 Coll Donaldson LB 3 Carl Tremarco RM 7 Liam Polworth CM 11 Iain Vigurs LM 4 Joe Chalmers FW 14 George Oakley FW 20 Connor Bell  78' FW 15 Jake Mulraney  70' Substitutes: GK 1 Ryan Esson MF 10 Aaron Doran  70' MF 16 Riccardo Calder MF 18 Zak Elbouzedi MF 24 Charlie Trafford MF 27 Daniel MacKay  78' FW 32 Jack Brown Manager: John Robertson

Man of the match: Coll Donaldson Assistant referees: David Roome & Daniel McFarlane Fourth official: David Munro

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

References