The 2002–03 Irish Cup was the 123rd edition of the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

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 premier

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 3 May 2003 with the final. Linfield were the defending champions, winning their 36th Irish Cup last season after a 2–1 win over

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

in the 2002 final. This season Linfield reached the quarter-finals, but went out to Omagh Town.

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

were the eventual winners, in what was their first appearance in the final in 17 years. The last time they had done so was in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, when they were defeated 2–1 by

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 ...

. It was the same opposition but a different outcome this time. A 1–0 victory over the Glens, who were appearing in the final for the fifth time in eight years, was enough to seal Coleraine's first Irish Cup win in 26 years. The last time they had won the competition was in 1977.

Fifth round

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

received a bye into the sixth round.

Replays

Sixth round

Replay

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2002-03 Irish Cup 2002–03 2002–03 domestic association football cups 2002–03 in Northern Ireland association football 2002 in Northern Ireland sport 2003 in Northern Ireland sport