2003–04 Irish League Cup

2003–04 Irish League Cup
CIS Insurance Cup
Country  Northern Ireland
Teams 16
Champions Cliftonville (1st win)
Runners-up Larne
Matches played 54
Goals scored 159 (2.94 per match)

The 2003–04 Irish League Cup (known as the CIS Insurance Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th edition of Northern Ireland's secondary football knock-out cup competition. It concluded on 11 November 2003 with the final.

Glentoran were the defending champions after their fourth League Cup win last season; a 2–0 victory over Linfield in the previous final. This season the Glens reached the semi-finals but were later disqualified from the competition for fielding an ineligible player in an earlier match. As a result, Larne were given a walkover into the final where they were defeated on penalties by Cliftonville, who won the Cup for the first time. This was Cliftonville's second appearance in the final, and first since the 1994–95 final. It was also the first final in eight years not to feature either Linfield or Glentoran.[1][2]

As a result of a restructuring of the league system, the number of clubs eligible to take part in the competition this season was reduced to 16. The 16 clubs taking part were divided into four groups of four clubs. The clubs in each group played each other at home and away. The top two clubs from each group then advanced to the quarter-finals where they played a single knock-out tie against another quarter-finalist. The semi-finals were played in the same format with the two winners of the ties advancing to the single match final.

Group Stage

Group A

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Glentoran 6600181+1718
Cliftonville 620456–16
Omagh Town 620458–36
Dungannon Swifts 6204215–136

Home ╲ Away CLI DUN GLTOMA
Cliftonville 01 01 01
Dungannon Swifts 03 02 02
Glentoran 20 80 31
Omagh Town 12 01 02

Source: rsssf.com
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Portadown 6420135+814
Institute 6312119+210
Glenavon 621378–17
Ballymena United 6105615–93

Home ╲ Away BYM GLA INSPOR
Ballymena United 13 13 03
Glenavon 01 03 22
Institute 32 02 24
Portadown 31 10 00

Source: rsssf.com
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group C

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Coleraine 6411167+913
Crusaders 632184+411
Ards 631279–210
Limavady United 6006314–110

Home ╲ Away ARD COL CRULIM
Ards 14 10 20
Coleraine 31 24 41
Crusaders 00 00 10
Limavady United 13 03 13

Source: rsssf.com
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group D

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Linfield 6600174+1318
Larne 640297+212
Lisburn Distillery 6105612–63
Newry Town 6105514–93

Home ╲ Away LRN LIN LISNEW
Larne 01 20 20
Linfield 52 10 30
Lisburn Distillery 12 13 21
Newry Town 01 14 32

Source: rsssf.com
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Quarter-finals

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Coleraine 2–4 Larne
Glentoran 6–1 Institute
Linfield 0–1 Crusaders
Portadown 0–3 Cliftonville

Semi-finals

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Glentoran w/o Larne1
Cliftonville 1–1 (4–1 p) Crusaders

1 Glentoran were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player. Larne received a walkover into the final.

Final

11 November 2003
Cliftonville 1 – 1 (a.e.t.) Larne
Mulvenna  79' Report Delaney  11'
  Penalties  
5 – 4

References

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