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 League of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland and the Irish League in 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 to collect the winner's prize of €150,000.
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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.
Shelbourne qualified for the 2005 Setanta Cup by winning the 2004 League of Ireland. Longford Town qualified by winning the 2004 FAI Cup final. Cork City FC took the third spot by finishing second in the 2004 League of Ireland table.
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, Glentoran Group 2; Shelbourne, Portadown, Cork City
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Linfield FC | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 2. Longford Town | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| 3. Glentoran | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 3 |
| March 15, 2005 | |||
| Glentoran | 2–1 | Longford Town | The Oval (Belfast) |
| April 4, 2005 | |||
| Longford Town | 2–1 | Linfield | Flancare Park |
| April 19, 2005 | |||
| Linfield | 3–2 | Glentoran | Windsor Park |
| April 25, 2005 | |||
| Longford Town | 1–0 | Glentoran | Flancare Park |
| May 10, 2005 | |||
| Linfield | 1–0 | Longford Town | Windsor Park |
| May 16, 2005 | |||
| Glentoran | 2–4 | Linfield | The Oval |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Shelbourne FC | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 2. Portadown FC | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 3. Cork City FC | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 4 |
| March 22, 2005 | |||
| Shelbourne | 3–3 | Portadown | Tolka Park |
| March 28, 2005 | |||
| Cork City | 1–0 | Shelbourne | Turners Cross |
| April 11, 2005 | |||
| Portadown | 1–1 | Cork City | Shamrock Park |
| April 25, 2005 | |||
| Portadown | 0–1 | Shelbourne | Shamrock Park |
| May 2, 2005 | |||
| Shelbourne | 1–0 | Cork City | Tolka Park |
| May 16, 2005 | |||
| Cork City | 0–1 | Portadown | Turners Cross |
| May 21, 2005 | ||||
| Shelbourne | 0–2 | Linfield | Tolka Park |
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)