Gold Cup (Northern Ireland)


The Gold Cup is a defunct cup competition which involved competitors from Ireland and, from 1921 onwards, just for Northern Ireland. It was initially run by the New Irish Football Association but later, and mainly, by the Irish Football Association.
The competition was first played in the 1911–12 season after seven of the eight participating clubs left the IFA after a dispute over money and founded the New IFA. This new organisation introduced the cup as the "New Irish Cup". At the end of the season after many discussions, the dissident clubs returned to the IFA and the tournament was not held in 1912-13. However, it was revived by the IFA as the Gold Cup in 1913–14 season. In the seasons 1915–16 to 1918–19 season it was played in a league format. This involved a play-off between the two teams topping the table in the first of these seasons. The competition was last staged in 2000-01.

Last year of competition

The last season that the Gold Cup was competed for was during the 2000-01 season. Glentoran were the victors after defeating Coleraine in the final. It was Glentoran's third Gold Cup victory in as many seasons.

Format

The format for the Gold Cup varied throughout its history, but most commonly it was organised on a knock-out basis.
The format over the years was as follows:
YearsNo. of seasonsFormat
1911–12 and 1913–153knock-out
1915–19194league
1919–19201knock-out
1920–19233league
1923–194017knock-out
1940–19477league
1947–197629knock-out
1976–19837group system plus final
1983–19852group system plus top-four knock-out
1985–19861league followed by top-four knock-out
1986–19915group system plus top-four knock-out
1991–19998group system plus top-eight knock-out
1999–20012knock-out

In 1915–16, there was a play-off between the top two teams.

Sponsorship

From the late 1970s on the Gold Cup was sponsored by Hennessy, TNT, Sun Life and Nationwide.

List of Gold Cup finals

Key:
Scores level after 90 minutes. A replay was required.
Scores level after extra time. A replay was required.
Scores level after 90 minutes. Winner was decided in extra time with no penalty shootout required.
pens.Scores level after extra time. A penalty shootout was required to determine the winner.

SeasonWinner
ScoreRunner-upVenueAttendance
1911–12Belfast Celtic 2–0GlentoranGrosvenor Park, Belfast9,500
1913–14Distillery 0–0ShelbourneShelbourne Park, Dublin
ReplayDistillery 3–2ShelbourneGrosvenor Park, Belfast
1914–15Shelbourne 1–0LinfieldSolitude, Belfast18,000
1915–16Linfield League formatDistillery——
1916–17Glentoran League formatLinfield——
1917–18Linfield League formatGlentoran——
1918–19Linfield League formatGlentoran——
1919–20Distillery 3–1GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
1920–21Linfield League formatGlenavon——
1921–22Linfield League formatCliftonville——
1922–23Cliftonville League formatLinfield——
1923–24Linfield 1–0DistilleryThe Oval, Belfast
1924–25Distillery 2–0Queen's IslandCeltic Park, Belfast
1925–26Belfast Celtic 3–0CliftonvilleWindsor Park, Belfast15,000
1926–27Linfield 1–0GlenavonCeltic Park, Belfast
1927–28Linfield 3–2Belfast CelticGrosvenor Park, Belfast
1928–29Linfield 3–1ArdsThe Oval, Belfast
1929–30Distillery 3–0BangorWindsor Park, Belfast
1930–31Linfield 6–1Belfast CelticGrosvenor Park, Belfast
1931–32Coleraine 3–0BallymenaSolitude, Belfast10,000
1932–33Cliftonville 2–1LinfieldCeltic Park, Belfast
1933–34Portadown 1–0GlentoranSolitude, Belfast
1934–35Belfast Celtic 4–0LinfieldGrosvenor Park, Belfast8,000
1935–36Linfield 3–0DistilleryCeltic Park, Belfast
1936–37Linfield 7–2Derry CityThe Oval, Belfast
1937–38Portadown 2–0Belfast CelticGrosvenor Park, Belfast12,000
1938–39Belfast Celtic 2–1GlenavonThe Oval, Belfast
1939–40Belfast Celtic 1–0LinfieldGrosvenor Park, Belfast10,000
1947–48Belfast Celtic 2–0DistillerySolitude, Belfast
1948–49Linfield 5–0GlenavonSolitude, Belfast
1949–50Linfield 3–2PortadownThe Oval, Belfast
1950–51Linfield 5–1GlentoranSolitude, Belfast
1951–52Glentoran 2–1GlenavonWindsor Park, Belfast15,000
1952–53Portadown 2–1LinfieldSeaview, Belfast
1953–54Ards 2–1DistillerySeaview, Belfast6,000
1954–55Glenavon 3–2LinfieldThe Oval, Belfast
1955–56Linfield 3–0PortadownGrosvenor Park, Belfast
1956–57Glenavon 3–1Derry CityThe Oval, Belfast
1957–58Linfield 1–0GlenavonGrosvenor Park, Belfast
1958–59Coleraine 1–0GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
1959–60Linfield 3–2PortadownSolitude, Belfast
1960–61Glentoran 4–2LinfieldSolitude, Belfast
1961–62Linfield 4–0GlentoranGrosvenor Park, Belfast
1962–63Glentoran 3–1Derry CityWindsor Park, Belfast
1963–64Linfield 2–2GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
ReplayLinfield 3–2GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
1964–65Derry City 5–2CrusadersWindsor Park, Belfast
1965–66Linfield 6–0PortadownThe Oval, Belfast
1966–67Glentoran 5–2CrusadersWindsor Park, Belfast
1967–68Linfield 3–2ArdsThe Oval, Belfast
1968–69Linfield 0–0GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
ReplayLinfield 2–1GlentoranThe Oval, Belfast20,000
1969–70Coleraine 1–0GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
1970–71Linfield 2–1GlentoranThe Oval, Belfast15,000
1971–72Portadown 0–0ArdsMourneview Park, Lurgan5,000
ReplayPortadown 2 – 1 ArdsMourneview Park, Lurgan3,500
1972–73Linfield 2–0PortadownCastlereagh Park, Newtownards
1973–74Ards 4–1BangorThe Oval, Belfast
1974–75Ballymena United 3–2GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast2,000
1975–76Coleraine 2–1Ballymena UnitedShowgrounds, Ballymena6,000
1976–77Glentoran 5–1LinfieldWindsor Park, Belfast10,000
1977–78Glentoran 3–1GlenavonWindsor Park, Belfast
1978–79Portadown 2 – 1 CliftonvilleWindsor Park, Belfast6,000
1979–80Linfield 2–1Ballymena UnitedWindsor Park, Belfast
1980–81Cliftonville 3–1LinfieldWindsor Park, Belfast10,000
1981–82Linfield 1 – 1 Ballymena UnitedThe Oval, Belfast
1982–83Glentoran 2–0LinfieldThe Oval, Belfast
1983–84Linfield 3–1GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
1984–85Linfield 1–0GlentoranWindsor Park, Belfast
1985–86Crusaders 3–1LinfieldThe Oval, Belfast
1986–87Glentoran 3–2LinfieldThe Oval, Belfast
1987–88Linfield 3–0Newry TownThe Oval, Belfast5,000
1988–89Linfield 1–0PortadownThe Oval, Belfast
1989–90Linfield 0 – 0 PortadownThe Oval, Belfast
ReplayLinfield 2–0PortadownThe Oval, Belfast
1990–91Glenavon 2–1PortadownWindsor Park, Belfast8,000
1991–92Glentoran 1–0CliftonvilleWindsor Park, Belfast10,000
1992–93Portadown 1–0CliftonvilleWindsor Park, Belfast7,000
1993–94Distillery 3 – 2 BangorWindsor Park, Belfast750
1994–95Glentoran 1 – 1 CrusadersWindsor Park, Belfast2,000
1995–96Crusaders 1–0LinfieldThe Oval, Belfast
1996–97Linfield 1–0GlenavonThe Oval, Belfast3,253
1997–98Glenavon 4–2ColeraineWindsor Park, Belfast2,036
1998–99Glentoran 3–1PortadownWindsor Park, Belfast2,670
1999–00Glentoran 4–2LinfieldWindsor Park, Belfast6,000
2000–01Glentoran 4–3ColeraineWindsor Park, Belfast3,000

Substitute Gold Cup

Between the 1940/41 and 1946/47 seasons the Gold Cup was competed for by the Northern Regional League Clubs and known as the "Substitute Gold Cup".
SeasonWinner
ScoreRunner-up
1940–41Belfast Celtic League formatGlentoran
1941–42Glentoran League formatDistillery
1942–43Linfield League formatBelfast Celtic
1943–44Belfast Celtic League formatDistillery
1944–45Linfield League formatDistillery
1945–46Belfast Celtic League formatLinfield
1946–47Belfast Celtic League formatLinfield