The Setanta Sports Cup starts tonight. For 4 League of Ireland clubs it's the start of their competitive season. They play 4 teams from Irish League. In a fluke of the draw all 4 northern teams travel south to play the first legs tonight. The 2nd legs are played next week. So, any questions?
What's the Setanta Sports Cup?
It's the only professional all-Ireland football competition. 12 teams compete; 6 from the Irish League and 6 from the League of Ireland.
Why didn't you just say 6 from the North, 6 from the Republic?
Because Derry City play in the Republic's League of Ireland and not the Northern Irish League.
Ah, OK. Why's that?
Its long and complicated and I'm not getting into politics here.
Grand so. Why's it called the Setanta Sports Cup then?
Because it was set up by the then fledgling TV station in 2005 as they sought to increase their football rights portfolio.
So they give it great coverage then?
No. They used to show most games live. Now they might cover one game each round and they don't even film highlights from the other games. They barely even mention it on their website.
That's strange. Is there much interest in it?
Again, there used to be. First competition saw good crowds and good coverage. Novelty soon wore off though. They've tinkered with the amount of teams in it (6 to 8 to 9 to 12) and changed from groups to two-legged knock out. As with most cup competitions these days, the teams who reach the final enjoy it whilst the rest claim they weren't taking it seriously. They changed the time of year it was played twice as Northern clubs complained about it being unfair. Now, the first round is played a month before the start of the League of Ireland so they'll still be in pre-season mode.
So LOI clubs dominate then?
Mostly, yeah. Belfast club Crusaders won it last year and that was the first IL win since Linfield won the inaugural competition in 2005. LOI clubs have won it 5 times and provided 10 of the 14 finalists so far.
So why should I care about it then?
Well it's still probably the 3rd most important competition for Irish professional clubs. Some fans here will talk about an all-Ireland league being something that could really help with some of the problems in our game here (making it more attractive to sponsors and fans, mainly). While that may be some way off, the Setanta Sports Cup has at least shown that crowd trouble won't be an issue as there's relatively few issues in the 7 competitions so far.
So why isn't there an all-Ireland league then?
Politics. Both actual politics (you know, the whole 6 county thing...) and footballing politics. The North's governing body, the IFA don't want it.
Ah. So this year?
Well holders Crusaders and IL champions Linfield, along with LOI champs Sligo Rovers and FAI Cup winners Derry City, have a bye into the last 8. The others all start tonight
What's the tie of the round?
There's no real stand out tie to be honest. Portadown have recent signing from Shamrock Rovers Gary Twigg in their squad to play Drogheda. He'll be looking to terrorise LOI defences, as he's been doing for the past 3 years. The current IL League leaders Cliftonville are in flying form and they make the long trek to play Cork City. Bookies make the Belfast side favourites to win, the only Northern favourites of the 4 ties. Coleraine travel to play a Shamrock Rovers side under new management and hoping to put last year's horrors behind them. But Setanta Sports have chosen St Patrick's Athletic at home to Glentoran as the live TV game. Not really sure why but both sides do like to play good passing and attacking football.
And who'll win it this year?
It really is wide open. LOI clubs should be stronger but there isn't much between Sligo, Rovers, Derry, Drogheda and Pats. Cliftonville have beaten Pats the past 2 seasons and Crusaders are the holders. So 7 out of 12 will think they can win it. Probably 8, as Cork fans will always think they can win everything.
Make a prediction wuss.
Derry City. Because no club wants to win the title of All-Ireland champions as the club from Northern Ireland playing in the Republic of Ireland's league.
