Football League of Ireland Cup

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The Football League of Ireland Cup is a football competition open to all Football League of Ireland clubs and sometimes invited clubs from non league football. Occasionally, the sides invited have included junior league representative selections.

The format has changed from year to year. For the most part it has been used a precursor to the league season, with 6 groups of 4 teams (geographically based), with the winners and two best runners up going on to the last eight (which started the knockout phase). The knockout stage would be played midweek through the season. In the late 1990s the cup went into a straight knockout format and recently has reverted to again starting with a group phase, this time with 8 groups of 3 with only the winners progressing. In 2006, the competition was once again contested on a straight knock-out basis, with a convoluted regionalised seeding system determining pairings and byes in the early rounds.

The League Cup Final has also changed format many times. They have been played on neutral grounds, with two legged games and currently (and historically most times) a draw is made to see which finalist gets home advantage.

The competition began in 1973, replacing the earlier League of Ireland Shield. Starting with the 2005 competition, the winner of this competition used to receive a place in the Setanta Cup. Now the winners will play off with the winners of the Eircom First Division for a place in the Setanta Cup.

1 List of League Cup Finals
2 Performance By Club
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] List of League Cup Finals

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1973/74	Waterford	2-1	Finn Harps
1974/75	Bohemians	1-1, 2-1	Finn Harps
1975/76	Limerick	4-1 ¹	Sligo Rovers
1976/77	Shamrock Rovers	1-0	Sligo Rovers
1977/78	Dundalk ²	4-4 ¹	Cork Alberts
1978/79	Bohemians	2-0	Shamrock Rovers
1979/80	Athlone Town	4-2	St. Patrick's Athletic
1980/81	Dundalk ²	0-0	Galway Rovers
1981/82	Athlone Town	1-0	Shamrock Rovers
1982/83	Athlone Town	2-1	Dundalk
1983/84	Drogheda United	3-1	Athlone Town
1984/85	Waterford United	2-1	Finn Harps
1985/86	Galway United	2-0	Dundalk
1986/87	Dundalk	1-0	Shamrock Rovers
1987/88	Cork City	1-0	Shamrock Rovers
1988/89	Derry City	4-0	Dundalk FC
1989/90	Dundalk ²	1-1	Derry City
1990/91	Derry City	2-0	Limerick
1991/92	Derry City	1-0	Bohemians
1992/93	Limerick City	3-1	St Patrick's Athletic
1993/94	Derry City	1-0 ¹	Shelbourne
1994/95	Cork City	2-1 ¹	Dundalk
1995/96	Shelbourne ²	2-2 ¹	Sligo Rovers
1996/97	Galway United	4-2 ¹	Cork City
1997/98	Sligo Rovers	1-0 ¹	Shelbourne
1998/99	Cork City	2-1 ¹	Shamrock Rovers
1999/2000	Derry City	5-2 ¹	Athlone Town
2000/01	St Patrick's Athletic	5-3 ¹	UCD
2001/02	Limerick ²	2-2 ¹	Derry City
2002/03	No Competition due to change in seasons
2003	St Patrick's Athletic	1-0	Longford Town
2004	Longford Town	2-1	Bohemians
2005	Derry City	2-1	UCD
2006	Derry City ²	0-0	Shelbourne
2007	Derry City	1-0	Bohemians

¹ Score on aggregate after 2 legs
² Won on penalties

[edit] Performance By Club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years
Derry City	8	2	1988/89, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1993/94, 1999/2000, 2005, 2006, 2007
Dundalk	4	4	1977/78, 1980/81, 1986/87, 1989/90
Athlone Town	3	2	1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83
Limerick¹	3	1	1975/76, 1992/93, 2001/02
Cork City	3	1	1987/88, 1994/95, 1998/99
St. Patrick's Athletic	2	2	2000/01, 2003
Bohemians	2	2	1974/75, 1978/79
Galway United²	2	1	1985/86, 1996/97
Waterford United³	2	-	1973/74, 1984/85
Shamrock Rovers	1	5	1976/77
Sligo Rovers	1	3	1997/98
Shelbourne	1	3	1995/96
Longford Town	1	1	2004
Drogheda United	1	-	1983/84
Finn Harps	-	3	-
UCD	-	2	-
Cork Alberts	-	1	-