City Cup (Northern Ireland)

The City Cup was a football cup competition which involved teams from Northern Ireland (and prior to 1921, teams from Ireland). The tournament ran from 1894 and ceased to exist in 1976. The physical trophy the teams played for was called the Dunville Cup and this trophy is now presented to the winners of the Northern Ireland Football League Cup, which began in 1987.

City Cup

Organising body	Irish Football Association
Founded	1894
Abolished	1976
Region	Northern Ireland (1921–1976) Ireland (1895–1921)
Most successful club(s)	Linfield (24 titles)

History

A cup tournament consisting solely of Belfast clubs had been mooted as early as 1892, although it was not until two years later that the competition was organised. While the City Cup began as a competition for Belfast clubs only, from 1905 to 1911 Dublin-based club Shelbourne also participated. In the 1911–12 season, all eight Irish League clubs participated (Derry Celtic and Glenavon joining the five Belfast teams and Shelbourne). In the 1912–13 season, when the League expanded to ten clubs, only seven participated (the five Belfast teams plus Glenavon and Shelbourne. From 1913 until its demise in 1976, all clubs who were members of the Irish League competed for the City Cup (excluding the war years).

During 1915 to 1919, the City Cup was known as the Belfast City Cup and reverted to being a Belfast-only competition and is not recognised as an "official" competition for this period but as a wartime competition; during 1940 to 1947, it was not played at all.

Format

The format for the City Cup varied throughout its history, but most commonly it was organised on a league basis, by which each participating club played each other and the team with the most points won the cup.

The format over the years was as follows:

Years	No. of seasons	Format
1894–1915, 1919–40, 1947–69	64	league
1969–70	1	group system plus final
1970–71	1	league
1971–76	5	group system plus final

List of winners and runner-ups

Finals

Key:

pens.

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

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance
1969–70	Glentoran (13)	2–1	Bangor	Windsor Park, Belfast
1971–72	Ballymena United (1)	1–0	Ards	The Oval, Belfast
1972–73	Glentoran (14)	2–0	Coleraine	Ballymena Showgrounds, Ballymena
1973–74	Linfield (24)	0 2 – 2 (a.e.t.) (3 – 1 pens.)	Coleraine	Ballymena Showgrounds, Ballymena
1974–75	Glentoran (15)	3–1	Linfield	Windsor Park, Belfast
1975–76	Bangor (2)	0 0 – 0 (a.e.t.) (3 – 1 pens.)	Coleraine	Seaview, Belfast

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years	Runners-up Years
Linfield	24	15	1894–95, 1895–96, 1897–98, 1899–1900, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1902–03, 1903–04, 1907–08, 1909–10, 1919–20, 1921–22, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1949–50, 1951–52, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1967–68, 1973–74	1898–99, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1927–28, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1962–63, 1966–67, 1974–75
Glentoran	15	14	1896–97, 1898–99, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1931–32, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1956–57, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1974–75	1901–02, 1904–05, 1907–08, 1908–09, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1929–30, 1947–48, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1957–58, 1963–64
Belfast Celtic	10	7	1905–06, 1906–07, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1939–40, 1947–48, 1948–49	1897–98, 1902–03, 1910–11, 1919–20, 1926–27, 1931–32, 1933–34
Distillery	5	9	1904–05, 1912–13, 1933–34, 1959–60, 1962–63	1895–96, 1899–00, 1903–04, 1909–10, 1911–12, 1922–23, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1970–71
Glenavon	5	3	1920–21, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1960–61, 1965–66	1912–13, 1958–59, 1959–60
Queen’s Island	3	1	1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25	1925–26
Derry City	2	5	1934–35, 1936–37	1937–38, 1939–40, 1949–50, 1964–65, 1968–69
Coleraine	2	4	1953–54, 1968–69	1955–56, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1975–76
Bangor	2	1	1970–71, 1975–76	1969–70
Portadown	1	2	1938–39	1935–36, 1961–62
Ballymena United	1	1	1971–72	1960–61
Shelbourne	1	0	1908–09	—
Cliftonville	0	5	—	1894–95, 1896–97, 1900–01, 1905–06, 1906–07
Crusaders	0	2	—	1965–66, 1967–68
Ballymena	0	1	—	1928–29
Ards	0	1	—	1971–72

Belfast City Cup

Due to World War I, from the 1915–16 to 1918–19 seasons the City Cup was competed for by Ulster-based clubs only and was known as the "Belfast City Cup".

Key:

&	Title was shared after test match finished in a draw

Season	Winner (number of titles)	Score	Runner-up
1915–16	Glentoran (1)	League format	Belfast United
1916–17	Glentoran (2)		Linfield
1917–18	Linfield (1)		Glentoran
1918–19	Belfast Celtic (1) Glentoran (3)		—

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years	Runners-up Years
Glentoran	3 (1 shared)	1	1915–16, 1916–17, 1918–19 (shared)	1917–18
Linfield	1	1	1917–18	1916–17
Belfast Celtic	1 (shared)	0	1918–19 (shared)	—
Belfast United	0	1	—	1915–16

External links

• Northern Ireland - List of City Cup Winners
• Irish League Archive - City Cup