City Cup (Northern Ireland)
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. From 1905 to 1911, however, Dublin club Shelbourne also participated. In the 1911–12 season, all eight Irish League clubs participated. In the 1912–13 season, when the League expanded to ten clubs, only seven participated.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
- 1899–00 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