The ten Premier Division, twelve First Division clubs were joined by five A Championship teams plus Letterkenny Rovers, the 2009 Ulster Senior League champions, and the Kerry District League representative side.
For the Preliminary, First and second rounds of the competition, all participating clubs were split into 4 regional pools with the further rounds of the competition having an open draw.
Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk and Sporting Fingal all received automatic byes into the second round of the competition due to each club's European football participation.
The 2010 competition commenced with the preliminary round in March 2010.
[3] Fixtures were played on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 April 2010.