Setanta Sports Cup 2005

The Setanta Sports 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 Football 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).

In the inaugural season the cup was simply known as the Setanta Cup.

Glentoran FC beat Longford Town FC 2-1 in the opening game of the Setanta Cup on March 15 2005. The first final saw Belfast side Linfield FC defeat Dublin's Shelbourne FC 2-0 in Tolka Park in Dublin on May 21.

Format

The teams would be split into two groups of 3 teams and play each other twice, once at home and once away. The winners of each group would play in a single game final, to be held in Tolka Park if at least one team from the Republic of Ireland was involved. If the final was played between two teams from Northern Ireland, the final would be held at Windsor Park.

Qualification

League of Ireland

Shelbourne qualified for the 2005 Setanta Cup by winning the 2004 eircom League. Longford Town qualified by winning the 2004 FAI Cup final. Cork City FC took the third spot by finishing second in the 2004 eircom league table.

Irish League

Linfield qualifued for the 2005 Setanta Cup by winning the 2003/2004 Irish Premier League. Glentoran qualified by winninng the 2004 Irish Cup. The third spot went to Portadown FC for finishing second in the 2003/2004 Irish Premier League.

Following a draw (in which league winners were kept apart), the teams were placed as follows;Group 1; Linfield, Longford Town, GlentoranGroup 2; Shelbourne, Portadown, Cork City

The group stages

Group 1

Results

The Final

Shelbourne FC "0-2" Linfield FC

Top scorers

3- Gary Hamilton (Portadown)

2 - Michael Halliday (Gentoran)- Stephen Paisley {Longford Town)- Glenn Ferguson (Linfield)- Paul McAreavey (Linfield)- Peter Thompson (Linfield)- Richie Baker (Shelbourne)- Jason Byrne (Shelbourne)