2005 Setanta Cup

Tournament details
Country	Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland
Teams	6
Final positions
Champions	Linfield (1st title)
Runner-up	Shelbourne
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	33 (2.54 per match)
2006 →

The 2005 Setanta Cup was the first edition of the Setanta Sports Cup, a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. It was inaugurated 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).

For this season the cup was simply known as the Setanta Cup before being renamed the Setanta Sports Cup from 2006 onwards.

Glentoran beat Longford Town 2–1 in the first ever game of the competition on 15 March 2005. The first final saw Belfast side Linfield defeat Dublin's Shelbourne 2–0 at Tolka Park in Dublin on 21 May 2005 to collect the winner's prize of €150,000. ^[1]

Format

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.

Qualification

League of Ireland

Shelbourne qualified by winning the 2004 League of Ireland Premier Division title. Longford Town qualified by winning the 2004 FAI Cup Final. Cork City took the third spot by finishing second in the 2004 League of Ireland Premier Division.

Irish League

Linfield qualified by winning the 2003–04 Irish Premier League. Glentoran qualified by winning the 2003–04 Irish Cup. The third spot went to Portadown for finishing second in the 2003–04 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

Group stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Linfield (A)	4	3	0	1	9	6	+3	9	Advanced to final
2	Longford Town	4	2	0	2	4	4	0	6
3	Glentoran	4	1	0	3	6	9	−3	3

2005-03-15

Glentoran	2 – 1	Longford Town
Halliday 48' Parkhouse 65'	(Report)	Keegan 83'

The Oval, Belfast

2005-04-04

Longford Town	2 – 1	Linfield
Paisley 6' Myler 45'	(Report)	McAreavey 86'

Flancare Park, Longford

2005-04-19

Linfield	3 – 2	Glentoran
Larmour 11' King 35' Simpson o.g. 58'	(Report)	Halliday 47' Melaugh 85'

Windsor Park, Belfast

2005-04-25

Longford Town	1 – 0	Glentoran
Paisley 88' Paisley  89'	(Report)

Flancare Park, Longford

2005-05-10

Linfield	1 – 0	Longford Town
Thompson 26' McCann  82'	(Report)

Windsor Park, Belfast

2005-05-16

Glentoran	2 – 4	Linfield
Lockhart 62' Holmes 72'	(Report)	McAreavey 5' Murphy 28' Ferguson 43' Mouncey 54'

The Oval, Belfast

Referee: Ian Stokes

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Shelbourne (A)	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7	Advanced to final
2	Portadown	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	5
3	Cork City	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	4

2005-03-22

Shelbourne	3 – 3	Portadown
Baker 40', 67' Byrne 44'	(Report)	Hamilton 49', 59' Boyle 83'

Tolka Park, Dublin

2005-03-28

Cork City	1 – 0	Shelbourne
Behan 59' Gamble  85'	(Report)	Crawley  90'

Turners Cross, Cork

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: David Malcolm

2005-04-11

Portadown	1 – 1	Cork City
Kelly 77'	(Report)	Doyle 64'

Shamrock Park, Portadown

2005-04-25

Portadown	0 – 1	Shelbourne
Feeney  53'	(Report)	Byrne 4'

Shamrock Park, Portadown

2005-05-02

Shelbourne	1 – 0	Cork City
Harris 52'	(Report)

Tolka Park, Dublin

Referee: Mark Courtney

2005-05-16

Cork City	0 – 1	Portadown
McNulty	(Report)	Hamilton 30' Hamilton

Turners Cross, Cork

Referee: John Feighery

Final

2005-05-21

Shelbourne	0 – 2	Linfield
Byrne  90+' Moore  90+'	(Report)	Ferguson 26' Thompson 37'

Tolka Park, Dublin

Referee: Mark Courtney

Winner of 2005 Setanta Sports Cup
Linfield 1st title

Goalscorers

3 goals

• Gary Hamilton (Portadown)

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• Philip Simpson (Glentoran)

References

External links

• Official Setanta Cup Site