2014_Setanta_Sports_Cup
2014 Setanta Sports Cup
Football tournament season
The 2014 Setanta Sports Cup was the ninth and final staging of the Setanta Sports Cup, an annual football competition featuring clubs from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It commenced on 24 February 2014 and concluded on 10 May 2014 with the final.
Shamrock Rovers were the defending champions, following a comfortable 7–1 win over Drogheda United in the 2013 final. This season's competition was reduced in size from twelve clubs down to eight, with four clubs representing each league. The competition was originally going to feature Linfield, who were inaugural winners of this competition in 2005 and had appeared in all eight editions of the competition to date, and 2012–13 IFA Premiership champions Cliftonville. However, both clubs declined the invitation to take part. The clubs cited the difficulty faced by supporters to attend away games, inconvenient match scheduling, and the reduced prize fund as reasons for deciding not to enter. As a result, the fifth and sixth placed sides from the 2012–13 IFA Premiership – Ballinamallard United and Coleraine – were drafted in as replacements.[1]
The competition featured two-legged quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a single-match final.
