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Ulster Cup

{{Infobox football tournament

| name = Ulster Cup

| organiser = Irish Football Association

| current =

| founded = 1949

| abolished = 2003

| region = Northern Ireland

| most successful club = Linfield (15 titles)

| number of teams =

| champion =

}}

The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League for senior clubs.

History

Beginning in 1949, it was held on fifty-one occasions until being suspended after the 1998/99 season and discontinued after a one-off re-appearance in 2002/03. The last three editions were only open to First Division sides. From the mid-1980s to the early-1990s the competition was known as the Lombard Ulster Cup due to a sponsorship deal with the Lombard & Ulster Bank. It had previously been sponsored by Morans.

Format

The format of the Ulster Cup varied from season to season. It often employed a league format, with each club playing each other once and the winner declared as the team with the most points; and sometimes a group basis, with the winners decided by a play-off.

The format over the years was as follows:

class="wikitable"
Years

!No. of seasons

!Format

align=center

|1948–49

|1

|group system plus final

align=center

|1949–52

|3

|group system plus top-four knockout

align=center

|1952–56

|4

|group system plus final

align=center

|1956–57

|1

|league

align=center

|1957–65

|8

|group system plus final

align=center

|1965–83

|18

|league

align=center

|1983–85

|2

|group system plus top-four knockout

align=center

|1985–96

|11

|group system plus top-eight knockout

align=center

|1996–97

|1

|knock-out

align=center

|1997–99 and 2002–03

|3

|league (First Division clubs only)

Finals results

Winners of the Ulster Cup by season."Belfast Telegraph Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 1999/2000" Ed. Dr. Malcolm Brodie MBE

Key:

class="toccolours" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; margin: left;"
style="background:#ffffdd;"|

|Scores level after 90 minutes. A replay was required.

style="background:#cef2e0; text-align: center;"|{{aet}}

|Scores level after 90 minutes. Winner was decided in extra time with no penalty shootout required.

style="background:#cedff2; text-align: center;"|pens.

|Scores level after extra time. A penalty shootout was required to determine the winner.


class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="2" style="border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center; width: 70%; margin: 4 left;"
style="background: #efefef;"

!Season

!Winner
(number of titles)

!Score

!Runner-up

!Venue

align=center

|1948–49

|Linfield (1)

|3 – 0

|Ards

|Solitude, Belfast

align=center

|1949–50

|Larne (1)

|2 – 1

|Ballymena United

|Grosvenor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1950–51

|Glentoran (1)

|2 – 1

|Linfield

|Grosvenor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1951–52{{Efn|The tournament was renamed the Festival of Britain Cup for 1951–52.}}

|Ballymena United (1)

|3 – 0

|Crusaders

|Solitude, Belfast

align=center

|1952–53

|Glentoran (2)

|3 – 0

|Distillery

|Solitude, Belfast

align=center

|1953–54

|Crusaders (1)

|2 – 1

|Linfield

|Solitude, Belfast

align=center

|1954–55

|Glenavon (1)

|3 – 1

|Coleraine

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1955–56

|Linfield (2)

|5 – 1

|Coleraine

|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|1956–57

|Linfield (3)

|League format

|Distillery

|—

align=center

|1957–58

|rowspan="2"|Distillery (1)

|style="background:#ffffdd;"|1 – 1

|rowspan="2"|Glentoran

|Solitude, Belfast

align=center

|Replay

|4 – 1

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1958–59

|Glenavon (2)

|2 – 0

|Crusaders

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1959–60

|rowspan="2"|Linfield (4)

|style="background:#ffffdd;"|1 – 1

|rowspan="2"|Crusaders

|Solitude, Belfast

align=center

|Replay

|4 – 1

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1960–61

|Ballymena United (2)

|3 – 1

|Glenavon

|Grosvenor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1961–62

|Linfield (5)

|2 – 0

|Glentoran

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1962–63

|Glenavon (3)

|1 – 0

|Coleraine

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1963–64

|rowspan="2"|Crusaders (2)

|style="background:#ffffdd;"|2 – 2

|rowspan="2"|Glenavon

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|Replay

|1 – 0

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1964–65

|Linfield (6)

|1 – 0

|Glentoran

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1965–66

|Coleraine (1)

|rowspan="18"|League format

|Linfield

|rowspan="18"|—

align=center

|1966–67

|Glentoran (3)

|Glenavon

align=center

|1967–68

|Linfield (7)

|Glentoran

align=center

|1968–69

|Coleraine (2)

|Linfield

align=center

|1969–70

|Coleraine (3)

|Glentoran

align=center

|1970–71

|Linfield (8)

|Coleraine

align=center

|1971–72

|Linfield (9)

|Ballymena United

align=center

|1972–73

|Coleraine (4)

|Distillery

align=center

|1973–74

|Ards (1)

|Linfield

align=center

|1974–75

|Linfield (10)

|Glentoran

align=center

|1975–76

|Coleraine (5)

|Linfield

align=center

|1976–77

|Glentoran (4)

|Portadown

align=center

|1977–78

|Linfield (11)

|Coleraine

align=center

|1978–79

|Linfield (12)

|Crusaders

align=center

|1979–80

|Linfield (13)

|Cliftonville

align=center

|1980–81

|Ballymena United (3)

|Linfield

align=center

|1981–82

|Glentoran (5)

|Coleraine

align=center

|1982–83

|Glentoran (6)

|Linfield

align=center

|1983–84

|Glentoran (7)

|style="background:#cef2e0;"|5 – 2 {{aet}}

|Coleraine

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1984–85

|Linfield (14)

|style="background:#cedff2;"|2 – 2 {{aet}} (3 – 2 pens.)

|Larne

|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|1985–86

|Coleraine (6)

|style="background:#cef2e0;"|5 – 0 {{aet}}

|Portadown

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1986–87

|Coleraine (7)

|1 – 0

|Linfield

|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|1987–88

|Larne (2)

|2 – 1

|Coleraine

|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|1988–89

|Glentoran (8)

|5 – 2

|Larne

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1989–90

|Glentoran (9)

|3 – 1

|Glenavon

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1990–91

|rowspan="2"|Portadown (1)

|style="background:#ffffdd;"|1 – 1

|rowspan="2"|Glenavon

|rowspan="2"|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|Replay

|style="background:#cedff2;"|1 – 1 {{aet}} (3 – 2 pens.)

align=center

|1991–92

|Bangor (1)

|3 – 1

|Crusaders

|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|1992–93

|Linfield (15)

|2 – 0

|Ards

|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|1993–94

|Crusaders (3)

|1 – 0

|Bangor

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1994–95

|Bangor (2)

|2 – 1

|Linfield

|The Oval, Belfast

align=center

|1995–96

|Portadown (2)

|style="background:#cedff2;"|2 – 2 {{aet}} (5 – 3 pens.)

|Linfield

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1996–97

|Coleraine (8)

|style="background:#cedff2;"|1 – 1 {{aet}} (4 – 3 pens.)

|Crusaders

|Windsor Park, Belfast

align=center

|1997–98{{Efn|name=FD|The last three editions were open to First Division sides only}}

|Ballyclare Comrades (1)

|rowspan=3|League format

|Distillery

|rowspan=3|—

align=center

|1998–99{{Efn|name=FD}}

|Distillery (2)

|Ards

align=center

|2002–03{{Efn|name=FD}}

|Dungannon Swifts (1)

|Ballymena United

Performance by club

=Senior=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
Club

! Winners

! Runners-up

! Winning Years

! Runners-up Years

Linfield

| 15

| 11

|align="left"| 1948–49, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1984–85, 1992–93

|align="left"| 1950–51, 1953–54, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1994–95, 1995–96

Glentoran

| 9

| 6

|align="left"| 1950–51, 1952–53, 1966–67, 1976–77, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1988–89, 1989–90

|align="left"| 1957–58, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1974–75

Coleraine

| 8

| 8

|align="left"| 1965–66, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1996–97

|align="left"| 1954–55, 1955–56, 1962–63, 1970–71, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1987–88

Crusaders

| 3

| 6

|align="left"| 1953–54, 1963–64, 1993–94

|align="left"| 1951–52, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1978–79, 1991–92, 1996–97

{{nowrap|Ballymena United}}

| 3

| 2

|align="left"| 1951–52, 1960–61, 1980–81

|align="left"| 1949–50, 1971–72

Glenavon

| 3

| 5

|align="left"| 1954–55, 1958–59, 1962–63

|align="left"| 1960–61, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1989–90, 1990–91

Larne

| 2

| 2

|align="left"| 1949–50, 1987–88

|align="left"| 1984–85, 1988–89

Portadown

| 2

| 2

|align="left"| 1990–91, 1995–96

|align="left"| 1976–77, 1985–86

Bangor

| 2

| 1

|align="left"| 1991–92, 1994–95

|align="left"| 1993–94

Distillery

| 1

| 3

|align="left"| 1957–58

|align="left"| 1952–53, 1956–57, 1972–73

Ards

| 1

| 2

|align="left"| 1973–74

|align="left"| 1948–49, 1992–93

=First Division only=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
Club

! Winners

! Runners-up

! Winning Years

! Runners-up Years

Distillery

| 1

| 1

|align="left"| 1998–99

|align="left"| 1997–98

Ballyclare Comrades

| 1

| 0

|align="left"| 1997–98

|align="left"| —

Dungannon Swifts

| 1

| 0

|align="left"| 2002–03

|align="left"| —

Ards

| 0

| 1

|align="left"| —

|align="left"| 1998–99

Ballymena United

| 0

| 1

|align="left"| —

|align="left"| 2002–03

Notes

{{reflist|group=nb}}

{{notelist}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://home.online.no/~smogols/ifcp/archive/defunctulstercup/ulstercupabout.htm Ulster Cup Archive at the Irish Football Club Project]
  • [https://www.irishleaguearchive.org/northern-ireland Irish League Archive – Ulster Cup]

{{Ulster Cup}}

{{Football in Northern Ireland}}

{{Association football cup competitions in Ireland}}

Category:Defunct association football cup competitions in Northern Ireland