The 1998–99 Irish League Cup (known as the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

League Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes), also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Nort ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

's secondary

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

knock-out cup competition. It concluded on 4 May 1999 with the final. Linfield were the defending champions after their fourth League Cup win last season; a 1–0 victory over

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

in the previous final. This season they became the first club ever to successfully defend the trophy. In a repeat of the previous final, Linfield once again came out on top with a 2–1

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

victory against Glentoran in the final, lifting the cup for the fifth time and condemning the Glens to defeat in the final for the third season running, which is a record for successive final defeats in the competition that still stands. The competition was re-structured this season, allowing only the 10 top-flight clubs and the 8 second-tier clubs to enter. This reduced the number of clubs taking part from 32 down to 18.

Preliminary round

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 Irish League Cup 1998–99 in Northern Ireland association football 1998–99 domestic association football cups 1998–99 1999 in Northern Ireland sport