The 2021–22 Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 35th edition of

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 ...

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 for national league clubs, and the seventh edition of the competition as the

Northern Ireland Football 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 North ...

. The competition was contested by the 35 member clubs of the

Northern Ireland Football League The Northern Ireland Football League (commonly abbreviated to NIFL), known historically, and still colloquially, as the Irish League, is the national football league of Northern Ireland. The Irish League was originally formed in 1890, with the l ...

, commencing on 31 July 2021 with the first round and concluding with the final on 13 March 2022. The competition was sponsored by McLean

Bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...

, the title sponsors of the cup since the 2017–18 season. The cup returned this season after a one-year hiatus, following the cancellation of the 2020–21 competition due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic reached Northern Ireland in February 2020. The Department of Health reports 3,445 deaths overall among people who had recently tested positive. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency reports 5,029 where the ...

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 defending champions from the 2019–20 season, after a 2–1 win over

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

in the 2020 final secured their second League Cup win overall; their first in 32 years. Coleraine once again reached the final this season, however they were defeated 4–3 in extra time by

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

, who won the League Cup for the sixth time overall, and the first time since their fourth consecutive cup win in 2016. This season saw the final being played on a Sunday for the first time in the competition's history, attracting a League Cup final record crowd of 11,103 at Windsor Park. This also became the highest scoring final in the cup's history. Coleraine suffered defeat in a League Cup final for the sixth time, a joint record with Crusaders for the most final defeats.

Format and Schedule

The competition was open to the 35 members of the

(NIFL). Usually, the 16 highest-ranked clubs from the previous league season are exempt from entering until the second round, where they are seeded to avoid being drawn against each other. However, as the 2020–21 second and third tier league seasons were cancelled as a result of the

, the rankings from the 2019–20 season were used instead. This consisted of all twelve

2019–20 NIFL Premiership The 2019–20 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 119th season of Irish league football overal ...

clubs, along with the top four clubs from the

2019–20 NIFL Championship The 2019–20 NIFL Championship was the fourth season of the NIFL Championship since gaining senior status. It is the second-tier of the Northern Ireland Football League - the national football league in Northern Ireland. The season began on 3 Augu ...

. The remaining 19 NIFL clubs entered the draw for the first round, with six of them being randomly drawn to face each other in three first round matches, and 13 of them receiving byes into the second round. The three first round winners and the 13 teams given byes made up the 16 unseeded clubs in the second round. From the third round onwards, the competition was operated in a straight knockout format with no seeding. Replays were not used in the competition, with all matches using extra time and penalties to determine the winner if necessary.

Results

''The league tier of each club at the time of entering the competition is listed in parentheses.'' ''(1) =

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

''
''(2) =

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

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''(3) =

NIFL Premier Intermediate League The NIFL Premier Intermediate League is the third division of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national association football league in Northern Ireland, and the highest intermediate division in Northern Ireland, occupying level three in ...

First round

The first round draw was made on 9 July 2021. The matches were played on 31 July and 3 August 2021. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 31 July 2021 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 3 August 2021 , -

Second round

The second round draw was made on 13 August 2021. The matches were played on 14 and 15 September 2021. The top 16 league clubs from the previous season were seeded in this round in order to avoid drawing each other. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 14 September 2021 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 15 September 2021 , -

Third round

The third round draw was made on 16 September 2021. The matches were played on 13 and 26 October, and 2 November 2021. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 13 October 2021 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 26 October 2021 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 2 November 2021 , -

Quarter-finals

The draw was made on 16 October 2021. The quarter-finals were played on 9 November 2021. , -

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 14 December 2021. , -

Final

The final was played on 13 March 2022 at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. This was the first League Cup final ever played on a Sunday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Ireland League Cup 2021-22

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2021–22 European domestic association football cups 2021-22