The 2002–03 Irish League Cup (known as the CIS Insurance Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th 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 knock-out cup competition. It concluded on 3 December 2002 with the final. Linfield were the defending champions after their seventh League Cup win last season; a 3–1 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 both clubs met in the final again but this time Glentoran defeated Linfield 2–0 in the final to win their fourth League Cup overall, and second in three years. This was the fourth time in six years that the two clubs had met in the final, with Linfield coming out on top on all three of the previous occasions. The twenty clubs taking part were divided into four groups of five clubs based on region. The clubs in each group played each other once, either at home or away. The top two clubs from each group then advanced to the quarter-finals where they played a single knock-out tie against another quarter-finalist. The semi-finals were played in the same format with the two winners of the ties advancing to the single match final.

Group stage

Eastern Region

Greater Belfast Region

Northern Region

Southern Region

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References

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