The 2022–23 Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 36th edition of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

knockout cup competition for national league clubs, and the eighth edition of the competition as the

Northern Ireland Football League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean Cup for sponsorship purposes, and commonly known as the Irish League Cup) is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the N ...

. The competition was contested by the 36 member clubs of the

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

, commencing on 6 August 2022 with the preliminary round and concluding with the final on 12 March 2023. The competition was sponsored by McLean

Bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out gambling, bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Harry Ogden, stood at Newmarket Racecourse, Newmark ...

, the title sponsors of the cup since the 2017–18 season.

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were the defending champions, following a 4–3 win over

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

after extra time in the 2022 final to win the cup for the sixth time overall. However, this season they were eliminated by the same opponents in the semi-finals. Linfield were the eventual winners, after they defeated

2–0 in the final to win the competition for a record-extending 11th time overall, their first win since the 2019 final. Coleraine finished as runners-up for the second consecutive season after their seventh defeat in a League Cup final overall. This set a new record in the competition for the most defeats in a final.

Format and schedule

The competition was open to the 36 members of the

(NIFL). The eight lowest-ranked clubs from the previous season's league system (the clubs that finished 5th–11th in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League along with the newly promoted club, Ballymacash Rangers) entered the preliminary round, with the 4 winners joining the remaining 28 NIFL clubs in the first round. The 16 highest-ranked clubs from the previous season's league system (all 12 NIFL Premiership clubs along with the top 4 NIFL Championship clubs) were then seeded in the first round to avoid drawing each other. The first round was the only round of the competition in which seeding is used. From there on the competition used an open draw with a standard knockout format, with the remaining rounds consisting of the second round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. 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 Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

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''(2) =

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championsh ...

''
''(3) =

NIFL Premier Intermediate League The NIFL Premier Intermediate League (Known as the Playr-Fit NIFL Premier Intermediate League for sponsorship reasons) is the third level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national association football league in Northern Ireland, and t ...

Preliminary round

The Preliminary round draw was made on 21 July 2022. The matches were played on 6 August and 9 August 2022. , - , colspan="4" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 6 August 2022 , - , - , colspan="4" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 9 August 2022 , -

First round

The First round draw was made on 20 August 2022. The matches were played on 13 and 14 September 2022. 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;", 13 September 2022 , - , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 14 September 2021 , -

Second round

The Second round draw was made on 17 September 2022. The matches were played on 4 October 2022. , - , colspan="3" style="background:#E8FFD8;", 4 October 2022 , -

Quarter-finals

The draw was made on 12 October 2022. The quarter-finals were played on 1 November 2022. , -

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on 6 December 2022. , -

Final

The final was played on 12 March 2023 at

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. This was the second consecutive season that the League Cup final was played on a Sunday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2022-23 Northern Ireland Football League Cup Irish League Cup seasons League Cup