Setanta Sports Cup
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| Founded | 2005 |
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| Region | Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland |
| Number of teams | 9 |
| Current champions | Shamrock Rovers |
| Most successful club | Drogheda United F.C. (2 titles) |
| Website | Setanta Sports Cup |
 2011 |
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The Setanta Sports Cup, commonly known as just 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 League of Ireland from the Republic of Ireland and the Irish League from Northern Ireland.
The cup is sponsored by Setanta Sports, the Irish subscription sports television network. The competition was launched with Setanta providing support for prize money (€350,000) and sponsorship (€1.6 million over four years). In June 2009, the company went into administration and ceased broadcasting in Great Britain, putting the future of the competition in doubt.[1] The draw for the 2009 tournament was postponed while the company tries to continue trading in Ireland.[1] The competition has seen numerous instances of crowd violence at its games since its inception,[2][3] while attendances at fixtures have declined.[citation needed]
The competition features four teams from each league with the winners and runners-up of the respective leagues, the winners of the respective major cup competitions, FAI Cup of the League of Ireland, and Irish Cup of the Irish League, and the winners of the respective secondary cup competitions, the League of Ireland 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. A ninth team qualifies by winning the competition the year before, if the winners have already qualified their spot is given to the highest finishing team in the winner's league that didn't already qualify. The competition is organised with three groups of three teams, semi-finals and a final.
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[edit] 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 (All-Ireland) Cup 1973/74-1974/75, and the Tyler Cup 1978-1980. These tournaments ultimately failed due to a lack of interest and security concerns.[citation needed] A cross-border competition was mooted in the early 2000s[4] though did not come to fruition until the Setanta Cup began a few years later.
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.
[edit] 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. 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.
[edit] 2006
The 2006 competition featured four teams from each league with the winners of the respective secondary cup competitions, the League of Ireland Cup and Northern Ireland 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 Cork City, Derry City, Shelbourne and Drogheda United with the Irish Premier League being represented by Linfield, Glentoran, Portadown and Dungannon Swifts. A total of twenty-seven 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 in Dublin. Drogheda United won, beating Cork City.
[edit] 2007
The draw for the 2007 Setanta Cup 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 FC 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 FC, despite the fact that the next best-placed in the previous season's league (Shelbourne's qualification route), who did not have a place in the Setanta Cup already, were Sligo Rovers. While it is likely that the organisers transferred Derry, who finished second in the league, into Shelbourne's empty slot, first in the league, for the purpose of official qualification and then accorded St Pat's qualification by way of the FAI Cup, this would have logically entailed Derry moving into Group 2 to fill Shelbourne's place, while St. Patrick's should compete in Group 1 in the place of the moved Derry.[citation needed] However, it is possible that for the purposes of the initial draw, teams were accorded lots on an alphabetical basis.[citation needed] Thus, it would follow that St. Patrick's would have been assigned the same lot as Shelbourne and would have, as a result, been drawn in the same slot anyway.[citation needed]
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 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 managed to win five of their six games. The final, between Linfield and Drogheda at Windsor Park was decided by a penalty shoot-out. Drogheda claimed the trophy for a second consecutive year thanks to two penalty saves from Mikko Vilmunen.[citation needed]
[edit] 2008
The draw for the 2008 Setanta Sports Cup was made on the 17th of January 2008 having been postponed since December 2007 to allow time for work on agreeing the Eircom LoI 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. The 2008 seasons 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. Over the period September/October the remaining group games and the semi-finals and final were played. The final took place on Saturday November 1 at Turners Cross in Cork, where Cork City FC overcame Glentoran 2-1.[citation needed]
The representatives of the respective leagues in the 2008 Setanta Sports Cup:
Eircom League of Ireland:
Drogheda United (League Champions 2007)
St. Patricks Athletic (League Runners-Up 2007)
Cork City F.C. (FAI Ford Cup winners 2007)
Derry City F.C. (FAI League Cup Winners 2007) *
JJB Irish Premiership:
Linfield F.C. (League Champions 2006-07)
Glentoran F.C. (League Runners -Up 2006-07)
Cliftonville F.C. (Third Place Team in League 2006-07)
Dungannon Swifts (Irish Cup Runners-Up 2006-07)
* in a change to previous years The FAI League Cup Winners were required to play the FAI First Division Champions in a play-off for the final Eircom LoI place in the Setanta Sports Cup 2008. As Derry City F.C. beat Cobh Ramblers 2-1 in the Setanta cup play-off in November 2007 they claimed the remaining spot.[citation needed]
[edit] 2009–10
"It is only fair for the tournament winners to be given the chance to defend their crown."
The 2009–10 season saw the Setanta Cup 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.[5]
[edit] 2011
The 2011 Setanta Sports Cup kicked off on February 14 and concluded on May 14 and was played over four rounds, each round over two legs, except the final. Six Airtricity League of Ireland and six Carling Premiership teams will take part. Clubs who finish in the top four positions in the Airtricity League and Carling Premiership will be invited to participate, along with the winners of both the FAI and Irish Cup competitions. The first round will commence in early February, with eight clubs taking part in that stage of the tournament. The two league champions, FAI Ford Cup winners and JJB Sports Cup winners will receive byes into the quarter-final stage. The final will be played in Northern Ireland should a team from there qualify. Milo Corcoran, Chairman of the Setanta Sports Cup Organising Committee said he believed the knockout format "will add even greater excitement to the tournament".[6]
[edit] 2012
The 2012 Setanta Sports Cup will kick off on February 11, and will be played over four rounds, each round over two legs, except the final. Six Airtricity League of Ireland and six Carling Premiership teams will take part, with two of each receiving a bye into the quarter finals.
2012 Setanta Sports Cup
[edit] Finals
| Season | Winner | Score | Runners–up | Venue | Attendance |
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| 2005 |  Linfield |
2-0 |  Shelbourne |
Tolka Park, Dublin |
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| 2006 | Drogheda United |
1-0 (aet) | Cork City |
Tolka Park, Dublin |
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| 2007 | Drogheda United |
1-1 (aet) 4-3 (pens) |
Linfield |
Windsor Park, Belfast |
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| 2008 | Cork City |
2-1 | Glentoran |
Turners Cross, Cork |
5,500 |
| 2009-10 | Bohemians |
1-0 | St. Patrick's Athletic |
Tallaght Stadium, Dublin |
3,896 |
| 2011 | Shamrock Rovers |
2-0 | Dundalk |
Tallaght Stadium, Dublin |
4,879 |
[edit] Performance By Club
| Nat. | Club | Winners | Runners-up | Winning Years |
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Drogheda United | 2 | - | 2006, 2007 |
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Linfield | 1 | 1 | 2005 |
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Cork City | 1 | 1 | 2008 |
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Bohemians | 1 | - | 2009/10 |
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Shamrock Rovers | 1 | - | 2011 |
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Glentoran | - | 1 | |
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Shelbourne | - | 1 | |
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St.Patrick's Athletic | - | 1 | |
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Dundalk | - | 1 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Setanta Cup future is in doubt". RTÉ Sport. 2009-06-22. http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/0622/setantacup.html. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Daniel McDonnell (2008-04-16). "Ugly face of football as violence flares at cross-border clash". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ugly-face-of-football-as-violence-flares-at-crossborder-clash-1349190.html. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ^ "Arrests made as Glentoran fans clash with Dublin police". BBC. 2010-03-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/8566745.stm. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ^ "All-Ireland Cup looms". BBC News. 2000-11-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/1001909.stm.
- ^ Setanta Sports Cup to be expanded
- ^ "Setanta Sports Cup to be revamped". BBC News. 2010-05-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/8661137.stm.
[edit] External links
- Irish Football Club Project Archive on All-Ireland Competitions
- Official Setanta Cup Site
- All-Ireland Cross-Border Cup Competitions history
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