The LFA President's Cup was an association football

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

featuring League of Ireland clubs affiliated to the Leinster Football Association. It was played for between

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. It was a ''de facto'' national

super cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

and on twenty four occasions featured the League of Ireland champions against the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

winners. The Football Association of Ireland also organised similar competitions, such as the Top Four Cup and the

FAI Super Cup The FAI Super Cup was an association football super cup featuring clubs from the Republic of Ireland. It was played for between 1998 and 2001. It was a pre-season tournament played in the summer before the regular League of Ireland season began. ...

, both of which co-existed with the LFA President's Cup. Since

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the FAI has organised their own similarly named super cup, the President's Cup.

History

Early years

The LFA President's Cup was originally introduced as fundraiser to help cover the costs of the LFA's new headquarters at

Parnell Square Parnell Square () is a Georgian square sited at the northern end of O'Connell Street in the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is in the city's D01 postal district. Formerly named ''Rutland Square'', it was renamed after Charles Stewart Parnell (18 ...

. The top four placed LFA affiliated clubs from the

1929–30 League of Ireland The 1929–30 League of Ireland was the ninth season of the League of Ireland. Shelbourne were the defending champions. Bohemians won their third title. Overview No new teams were elected to the League. Teams Table Results Top goalsc ...

season took part in two semi-finals. Shelbourne defeated Brideville 1–0 at

Harold's Cross Stadium Harold's Cross Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, owned and operated by the Irish Greyhound Board. Facilities included a grandstand restaurant, carvery, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating. Racin ...

in the first game on Sunday, 4 May 1930. Three days later the

1929–30 FAI Cup The FAI Cup 1929/30 was the ninth edition of Ireland's premier cup competition, The Football Association of Ireland Challenge Cup or FAI Cup. The tournament began on 4 January 1930 and concluded on 17 March with the final held at Dalymount Park, D ...

winners

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

defeated the league champions,

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

2–0 at Dalymount Park. In the inaugural final on 23 May, Rovers and Shelbourne drew 1–1 at

Shelbourne Park Shelbourne Park is a greyhound racing stadium in the south Dublin inner city suburb of Ringsend. Greyhound Racing Opening The plans to open a greyhound track in Dublin were drawn up by Paddy O’Donoghue, Jerry Collins, Patsy McAlinden and Jim ...

. For some reason the final was never replayed. In the 1930–31 final Dundalk beat Rovers 7–3. This became the competitions highest scoring final. Rovers won the cup for the first time outright in 1932–33. They would go on to become the competition's most successful club, winning it on twenty one occasions. They were also runners-up on a further ten occasions. The 1941–42 competition took nearly an entire year to compete despite a single tie format been used. Shamrock Rovers and Drumcondra drew in August 1941, drew in the replay in April 1942 before Rovers, in Bob Fullam's first competitive match in charge, won the second replay in August 1942.

Format

The most common format used throughout LFA President's Cup history saw the top placed LFA affiliated club from the League of Ireland play-off against the LFA affiliated club that had progressed the furthest in the

. This match was usually a one-off fixture played before the following season. However the earliest competitions in 1930s featured as many as ten clubs and were played at the end of the season. There was no competition held between 1933 and 1938 and when it returned in 1939–40 it adopted the two club single match format. This format continued throughout the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. Between 1964 and 1965 and 1972–73, with the exception a single tie final in 1968–69, it reverted to a knockout tournament featuring up to eight clubs. In 1973–74 the LFA broke with tradition when they arranged an all-

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

final for the first and only time. Waterford, who had been League of Ireland champions for six out of the eight previous seasons, played

Cork Hibernians Cork Hibernians F.C. were an Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1957 and 1976 and, from 1962, played their home games at Flower Lodge. In 1971, they were League of Ireland champions. History The ...

, the winners of the two previous FAI Cup finals. Alfie Hale scored both goals, including one penalty, as Waterford won 2–0 at Flower Lodge on 29 August 1973. From 1973 to 1974 onwards the LFA President's Cup continued with the two club single match format, except between 1980 and 1981 and 1983–84 when the finals were played over two legs.

Super Cup

When the LFA President's Cup was first established in 1929–30 every previous League of Ireland winner had come from Leinster and only two teams from outside Leinster –

Alton United Alton United F.C. is a defunct Irish football club who were based in Belfast, Northern Ireland and played in the Falls District League. During their time in the Falls District League, Alton United played their home matches in the Falls Road area ...

and Fordsons – had won the

. This Leinster dominance would continue and the League of Ireland's traditional top four clubs –

, Shelbourne,

and Dundalk – all came from the province. As a result the LFA President's Cup developed into a ''de facto'' national

. On twenty four occasions the final featured the League of Ireland champions against the FAI Cup winners. Between 1954 and 1955 and 1959–60 they met in six consecutive finals. Of the 64 finals played only nine did not feature either the League of Ireland champion or the FAI Cup winner.

List of finals

;Notes

List of winners by club

;Notes *

and Shelbourne shared the 1929–30 title. * Drumcondra and Shelbourne shared the 1947–48 title.

References

{{Association football cup competitions in Ireland Association football competitions in Leinster Defunct association football cup competitions in the Republic of Ireland Ireland 1930 establishments in Ireland 2002 disestablishments in Ireland