The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

from the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

and the

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 ...

from

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 ...

. The cup was sponsored by

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

, the Irish subscription sports

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

. The competition was discontinued after the 2014 edition. A successor competition, the Champions Cup, was announced in 2019.

History

The Setanta Cup was the first cross-border competition since 1980. Previous competitions include the Dublin and Belfast Intercity Cup 1941–42 to 1948–49, the

North-South Cup The North-South Cup was a short-lived all-Ireland football tournament. It was played for two seasons in the 1960s and on both occasions won by teams from Northern Ireland. The 1960-61 competition was played to the semi-final stage, however d ...

1961–62 to 1962–63, the

Blaxnit Cup The Blaxnit Cup, is a defunct club football competition which featured teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland, in a similar format to the later Setanta Cup. It was inaugurated in 1967 as a cross-border competition between c ...

1967–68 to 1973–74, the

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. It wa ...

1973–74 to 1974–75, and the

Tyler Cup The Tyler Cup was an association football competition played between clubs in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The competition ran from 1978 to 1980, and was similar to the earlier Blaxnit Cup, North-South Cup, Dublin and Belfast I ...

1978–1980. The inaugural cup was played between March and May 2005 at the start of the League of Ireland season and the end of the IFA Premiership season. The competition was launched with Setanta providing support for prize money (

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

350,000) and sponsorship (€1.6 million over four years). In June 2009, the company went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

and ceased broadcasting in Great Britain, putting the future of the competition in doubt. The draw for the 2009 tournament was postponed for a month but the competition eventually continued. The competition saw instances of crowd violence at its games since its inception. During the nine editions of the competition, the cup featured between six and twelve teams taking part. It began as a six-club competition called the ''Setanta Cup'' in 2005, before being expanded to eight clubs and renamed to the ''Setanta Sports Cup'' in 2006. The competition expanded again to nine clubs in 2009–10, and from 2011 until 2013 the competition was at its largest, with twelve clubs taking part. It was then reduced back to the 2006 number of eight clubs for the 2014 competition. The champions and runners-up from the respective leagues, and the winners of the respective cup competitions ( FAI Cup and

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

from the League of Ireland, and 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 ...

and NIFL Cup from the NIFL Premiership) qualified for the 2014 edition. If a club qualified via a cup win and would also have qualified by league table position, one of the spots would be awarded to the next highest club in the league table that had not already qualified. The 2014 competition was played in a two-legged knock-out tie format up until the final. All four clubs from each league participated in the quarter-finals, with clubs from the same association being kept apart in the draw. The quarter-final winners again played a two-legged knock-out tie in the semi-finals for a place in the final, which was a single game. The 2014 competition was originally going to feature Linfield, who were inaugural winners of the competition in 2005 and had appeared in all eight competitions to date, and 2012–13 IFA Premiership champions

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 ...

. However, both clubs declined the invitation to take part, citing match scheduling and reduced prize money as their reasons for deciding not to enter. As a result, the fifth and sixth placed sides from the 2012–13 IFA Premiership, Ballinamallard United and Coleraine were invited to take their place, with both clubs accepting the invitation. After the withdrawal of Linfield from the 2014 competition,

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 ...

became the only club to have entered all nine competitions since its inception. A total of 21 different clubs appeared in the competition - 9 different clubs from Northern Ireland and 12 different clubs from the Republic of Ireland. Of those 21 clubs, twelve different clubs reached the final but only seven of them went on to win the cup, and only two clubs won the cup more than once. In the nine competitions, seven of them were won by a club from the Republic of Ireland, with only two winners being from Northern Ireland. On four occasions, the cup was won by a club making their first appearance in the competition. Linfield won the cup in their first appearance - the inaugural 2005 competition. This feat was repeated by

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

during their first appearance in 2006, and in 2007 they became the only club to successfully retain the cup, and the first of two clubs to win the cup more than once. The feat was also repeated by Bohemians during their first appearance in 2009–10, and by Shamrock Rovers, when they won the cup during their first appearance in 2011. In 2013, they went on to become the second club to win the cup more than once.

Editions

2005

For the inaugural competition, it was known simply as the Setanta Cup. Qualification for the 2005 cup was based on the national league and cup performances in the respective countries - the top two in each league and the winners of the FAI Cup and

qualified. Teams were split into two groups with the winner of each qualifying for the final. The 2005 competition saw

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city's ...

, Longford and Shelbourne represent the League of Ireland, and

, Linfield and

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 ...

represent the IFA Premiership. The eventual winners of the Cup, Linfield, started the campaign poorly losing 2–1 to Longford before going on to win their remaining group matches and beating pre-tournament favourites Shelbourne.

2006

The 2006 competition was renamed the Setanta Sports Cup, and featured four teams from each league with the winners of the respective secondary cup competitions, the

and Irish League Cup being added. The competition was organised with two groups of four teams. The top two teams in each group entered a semi-final round with the winner progressing to the final. The League of Ireland was represented by

, Derry City, Shelbourne and

with the IFA Premiership being represented by Linfield,

and Dungannon Swifts. A total of 27 matches were played with the competition kicking off on Monday, 20 February 2006 with the final having been played on Saturday, 22 April 2006 at

Tolka Park Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium fo ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

won, beating Cork City.

2007

The draw for the 2007 competition was made on 7 December 2006 with the original competing teams being the identical ones to the previous year's competition. On 30 January 2007 however, Shelbourne announced that they were withdrawing from the competition for reasons relating to their financial troubles and the fact that they would be unlikely to field a team of players. Their place was given to the 2006 FAI Cup runners-up St Patrick's Athletic. The first round of matches commenced on Monday, 26 February 2007. The prize of £100,000 was on offer to the eventual competition winner, with the runner-up to receive £55,000. Linfield progressed from the first stage after finishing top of Group 1, guaranteeing them a home semi-final, while Drogheda United finished behind them. This meant that Drogheda had to travel away from home to meet the winners of Group 2, who were St. Patrick's Athletic. Meanwhile, Cork City, who finished second in Group 2 had to travel to

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 renta ...

to play Linfield. Both Linfield and St. Patrick's Athletic went through the group stage without a single defeat, while St. Patrick's Athletic even won five of their six games. The final, between Linfield and Drogheda at

was decided by a penalty shoot-out. Drogheda claimed the trophy for a second consecutive year thanks to two penalty saves from Mikko Vilmunen.

2008

The draw for the 2008 competition was made on 17 January 2008, having been postponed since December 2007 to allow time for an agreement to be reached over the League of Ireland fixtures for 2008. For the third year in a row there were four representatives from each of the leagues with two from each league to be drawn in each group. In a change from previous years, the 2007 League of Ireland Cup winners played off against the winners of the 2007 League of Ireland First Division to decide the final League of Ireland place in the 2008 competition. As Derry City beat Cobh Ramblers 2–1 in the play-off on 19 November 2007, they claimed the remaining spot. The 2008 competition saw a change to the format with the first three group games in each group being played between late February and early April before the teams take a break from the competition until September. Between September and October the remaining group games and the semi-finals and final were played. The final took place on Saturday, 1 November 2008 at Turners Cross in Cork, where

overcame

2–1.

2009–10

The 2009–10 season saw the competition expand to nine teams, including the holders, Cork City. There were three groups of three with the group winners and best runners-up qualifying for the semi-finals. The final took place on 15 May 2010 between Bohemians and St. Patrick's Athletic, the first final between teams from the same city. Bohemians won the match 1–0.

2011

The 2011 competition kicked off on 14 February 2011 and concluded on 14 May 2011. It was played over four rounds, each round over two legs, except the final. The competition was again expanded - this time to twelve teams. Six League of Ireland and six IFA Premiership teams took part. Clubs who finished in the top four positions of both leagues qualified, along with the winners of the FAI Cup, League of Ireland Cup, Irish Cup and Irish League Cup competitions. The competition commenced on 14 February 2011, and ended with the final on 14 May 2011, which was played at the

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium ( ga, Staid Thamhlachta) is an association football stadium in the Republic of Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of the stadium in July, 1996. The stadium is now o ...

and was won by Shamrock Rovers. Milo Corcoran, Chairman of the Setanta Sports Cup Organising Committee said he believed the knock-out format would "add even greater excitement to the tournament".

2012

The 2012 competition kicked off on 11 February 2012 and concluded with the final on 12 May 2012. Twelve clubs took part - six from each league. The two league winners, the FAI Cup winners, and the Irish Cup winners received a bye into the quarter-finals. The final was played at the

Oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one ...

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 Kingdom ...

and was won by

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 ...

for the first time, defeating Derry City 5–4 on penalties after a 2–2 draw.

2013

The 2013 competition kicked off on 11 February 2013 and concluded with the final on 11 May 2013. The competition again featured 12 clubs - six from each league.

Cup holders A cup holder is a device, such as a zarf, to hold a cup or other drinking vessel. It may be free standing to hold cups securely on a desk or other flat surface, or in a tree style to store sets of cups in kitchens. They may be built into automob ...

Crusaders, 2012 FAI Cup winners Derry City,

2011–12 IFA Premiership The 2011–12 IFA Premiership (known as the Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 4th season of the IFA Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, and the 111th season of Irish league football overall. ...

champions Linfield and 2012 League of Ireland champions Sligo Rovers entered the competition in the quarter-finals, with the remaining eight clubs entering in the first round. The final was played at the

and was won by Shamrock Rovers for the second time.

2014

The 2014 competition kicked off on 24 February 2014, and concluded with the final on 10 May 2014. The competition was reduced in size back down to eight teams, and was originally going to feature Linfield, who were inaugural winners of the competition in 2005 and had appeared in all eight competitions to date, and 2012–13 IFA Premiership champions

. However, in December 2013 both clubs declined the invitation to take part, citing match scheduling and reduced prize money as their reasons for deciding not to enter. As a result, the fifth and sixth placed sides from the 2012–13 IFA Premiership, Ballinamallard United and Coleraine were invited to take their place, with both clubs accepting the invitation. A prize fund of €73,000 was distributed in the competition. Sligo Rovers defeated Dundalk 1–0 in the final in Tallaght.

Future

The competition was scheduled to go ahead in 2015 with four clubs taking part from each league. However, in May 2015, Northern Ireland Football League clubs initially voiced concerns over fixture scheduling – particularly plans for midweek games – raising doubts as to the competition's viability. When suitable fixture dates could not be agreed upon by the clubs, the 2015 competition was postponed until 2016. However, the issues were not resolved, and the tournament was not held in 2016 either. Principal sponsor, Setanta Sports, became

Eir Sport Eir Sport (stylised as eir Sport; formerly Setanta Sports) was a group of Irish television sports channels operated by Eircom Sport Limited, a subsidiary of Eir. In December 2015, Eir purchased original Setanta Sports operations in the Republi ...

after being acquired by

Eir In Norse mythology, Eir (Old Norse: , "protection, help, mercy"Orchard (1997:36).) is a goddess or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; th ...

, and the competition was ultimately scrapped. In May 2019, it was announced that a new competition, the Champions Cup, would take place between the winners from the Northern Ireland Football League and the League of Ireland. The contest was played once as a two-legged affair in November 2019, with each team playing an away tie and a home tie.

Finals

Key:

Statistics

Performance by club

Titles by city/town

Titles by association

Competing clubs

''Years in Bold denote competition winner''

Notes

References

External links

Irish Football Club Project Archive on All-Ireland Competitions

Official Setanta Cup Site

{{Setanta Sports Defunct all-Ireland association football cup competitions