City Cup (Northern Ireland)

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

The City Cup is a now-defunct cup competition which involved competitors from Northern Ireland. It was run by the Irish Football Association. It had previously been known as the Dunville Cup and ceased to exist in 1976. The old City Cup trophy is now used for the Irish League Cup.

Participating teams[]

The City Cup began as a competition for Belfast clubs only (although, until 1900 the League consisted only of Belfast clubs). From 1905 to 1911, however, Dublin 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; and 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, 1919–1940, 1947–1969	64	league
1969–1970	1	group system plus final
1970–1971	1	league
1971–1976	5	group system plus final

List of winners[]

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

Performance by club[]

Club	Winners	Winning years
Linfield	24	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
Glentoran	15	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
Belfast Celtic	10	1905–06, 1906–07, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1939–40, 1947–48, 1948–49
Distillery	5	1904–05, 1912–13, 1933–34, 1959–60, 1962–63
Glenavon	5	1920–21, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1960–61, 1965–66
Queen’s Island	3	1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25
Bangor	2	1970–71, 1975–76
Coleraine	2	1953–54, 1968–69
Derry City	2	1934–35, 1936–37
Ballymena United	1	1971–72
Portadown	1	1938–39
Shelbourne	1	1908–09