FAI Cup Final 2026: The Candystripes Return to the Aviva
Derry City meet Waterford in the 2026 Club Orange FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium this Sunday, 8 November, kicking off at 3pm. Both clubs booked their place with 2-0 semi-final wins, and for anyone who loves a good shirt it is a proper occasion: Derry's famous red-and-white Candystripes against Waterford's blue, one national final, one afternoon in Dublin. If a cup final gets you thinking about kits, our mystery football shirt boxes are built for exactly that itch.
How the two got here
Waterford were first to the Aviva, beating Bohemians 2-0 at Dalymount Park on 9 October to end the Dublin side's double hopes. Derry City followed a day later, winning 2-0 away at Galway United, with Michael Duffy heading in the opener at Eamonn Deacy Park. Two clean sheets, two 2-0 scorelines, two very different routes to the same Sunday.
The pair know each other well. According to the final's record, Derry and Waterford have met four times in the League of Ireland Premier Division this season, and it has been anything but cagey: two 2-2 draws, a 4-2 win for Derry and a 4-2 win for Waterford. On that evidence, neutrals should fancy goals — and plenty of shirts on show at both ends.
The Candystripes: football's great striped shirt
Derry City's nickname, the Candystripes, comes straight off the back of their red-and-white striped home shirt — one of the most instantly recognisable jerseys on the island of Ireland. It is a kit that carries its own history. The club did not actually start in red and white: in their early years Derry wore claret and blue, reportedly in the style of Aston Villa, before the candystripes were reintroduced for the 1962-63 season and kept ever since.
A shirt that still nods to its past
That claret-and-blue origin has not been forgotten. Derry have worn a claret-and-blue alternative kit to mark 90 years of league football, used as a change from the famous stripes. It is the kind of detail shirt collectors live for: a club whose third kit is a quiet tribute to the colours it wore before it became the Candystripes.
Waterford's Blues and the final as a shirt occasion
Across the halfway line stand the Blues. Waterford, founded in 1930, have been synonymous with blue for generations — the nickname and the jersey are one and the same, and the club's own history talks fondly of "the men in Blue." Set that deep blue against Derry's red-and-white stripes under the Aviva lights and you have a final that looks the part before a ball is kicked.
That is part of what makes a cup final special for anyone who cares about kit. One-off days like this are when a club's colours do their loudest talking: a final shirt is the one supporters remember, photograph and hang on to. A League of Ireland showpiece rarely gets the global billing of a Wembley final, but on shirts alone it more than holds its own.
A Shirt in a Box take
We have always said the best football shirts are the ones with a story stitched into them, and this final is full of them — a striped shirt born out of claret and blue, a blue jersey that defines a whole club, and a one-game occasion that both sets of fans will measure in memories, not just the result. The Candystripes alone are a reminder that the most beloved kits are often the simplest: two colours, done right, worn for decades.
It is also a nudge to look beyond the obvious when you are building a collection. The Premier League and the big European nights get all the coverage, but some of football's most characterful shirts live in leagues like Ireland's — which is exactly the spirit of a mystery box, where the shirt you did not expect is often the one you end up loving most. Whoever lifts the cup on Sunday, the shirts will have already won.
By Dermot McGuckin — published 2 November 2026.