Setanta Sports Cup

Infobox sports league
current_season=Setanta Sports Cup 2008

pixels=150px
sport=Football
founded=2005
teams=8
country=Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland
champion=Drogheda United F.C.

The Setanta Sports Cup, commonly known as the Setanta Cup, is a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. It was inaugurated in 2005 as a cross-border competition between clubs from the FAI League of Ireland from the Republic of Ireland and the Irish League from Northern Ireland.

The cup is sponsored by Setanta Sports, the Irish sports television network. The competition was launched with Setanta providing support for prize money (€350,000) and sponsorship (€1.6 million over 4 years).

The competition features 4 teams from each league with the winners and runners-up of the respective leagues, the winners of the respective major cup competitions, FAI Cup, and Irish Cup, and the winners of the respective secondary cup competitions, the eircom League Cup and Irish Football League Cup being added. If a club has qualified via a cup win and would also qualify by league table position, one of the spots would be awarded to the next highest club in the league table that has not qualified via a cup win. The competition is organised with two groups of four teams, semi-finals and a final.

History

The Setanta Cup is the first cross-border competition since the 1980s. Previous competitions included the Dublin and Belfast Intercity Cup 1941/42-1948/49, the North-South Cup 1961/62-1962/63, the Blaxnit Cup 1967/68-1973/74, the Texaco Cup 1973/74-1974/75, and the Tyler Cup 1978-1980.

Previous tournaments ultimately failed due to a lack of interest and security concerns. The foundation and success of this tournament has been largely due to the improving security situation and the lessening of sectarian tensions throughout the whole island of Ireland, aided by the Northern Ireland peace process.

The inaugural Cup was played between March 15 and May 21 2005 at the start of the League of Ireland season and the end of the Irish Premier League season.

2005

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 Irish Cup qualified. Teams were split into two groups with the winner of each qualifying for the final.

The 2005 competition saw Cork City, Longford and Shelbourne, represent the League of Ireland, and Glentoran, Linfield and Portadown represent the Irish League.

With a large financial prize and bragging rights at stake the 2005 Cup was a very competitive and combative affair. On the field there were many controversial moments with erratic and inconsistent match official decisions adding to the already charged atmosphere. But while tempers may have flared among players and club staff, the fans themselves showed that sets of supporters from both sides of the border weren't a security risk.

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.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 2 score-card and table:


[http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2778]

Group 2 score-card:
"The home team is listed in the left hand column of the score-card.

External links

* [http://setantasports.com/en/Sport/Football/Competition/?facets/sport-space/football/great-britain-locale/Setanta-Sports-Cup/ Official Setanta Cup Site]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/alliercuphist.html All-Ireland Cross-Border Cup Competitions history]
* [http://home.online.no/~smogols/ifcp/archive/allirelandarchive/allirelandarchive.htm North-South past Football results]