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 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
1911–1912 and 1913–153knock-out
1915–19194league
1919–19201knock-out
1920–19233league
1923–194017knock-out
1940–19477league
1947–197629knock-out
1976–19859group system plus final
1985–19861league followed by top-four knock-out
1986–199913group system plus final
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.

Finals results

Performance by club

Substitute Gold Cup

Between the season 1940/41 - 1946/47 the Gold Cup was competed for by the Northern Regional League Clubs and known as the "Substitute Gold Cup".
SeasonWinnerScoreRunner-upVenueAttendance
1940–41Belfast CelticLeague format
1941–42GlentoranLeague format
1942–43LinfieldLeague format
1943–44Belfast CelticLeague format
1944–45LinfieldLeague format
1945–46Belfast CelticLeague format
1946–47Belfast CelticLeague format