The fourth celebration of the Setanta Sports Cup kicked-off on Tuesday, February 26, when Drogheda United began their attempt to win the competition for a third consecutive time.

Drogheda United, winners of the eircom League of Ireland Championship last season, won the Setanta Sports Cup in 2006 and 2007.

They were drawn in section one of the competition alongside Cork City, Dungannon Swifts and newcomers, Cliftonville.

The second section of the competition involved Linfield, Glentoran, Derry City and St. Patrick’s Athletic. Linfield won the inaugural competition in 2005.

This season’s competition saw a change to the format, with the fixtures beginning in February and ending in October.

The first round of matches were played on February 26th, with a total of three series of matches set to be played by April 15th. The competition will then have a four month break before re-commencing on September 1st with the remaining group fixtures, semi-finals, and the Final which is due to be played on October 18th.

Drogheda featured on the opening night with a home game against Cliftonville. Cork City travelled to play Dungannon Swifts on the same night.

Both League of Ireland teams won their matches - Drogheda winning a splendid contest 3-2 that provided top-class TV entertainment while Cork City defeated Dungannon Swifts 2-0.

The second section of the competition kicked-off on Monday, March 10 and the Irish League teams struck back powerfully. Linfield out-scored Derry City at Windsor Park and Glentoran were within seconds of securing a win at Richmond Park only to surrender an equaliser in added time.

Drogheda played defensively - whether by accident or design - when they travelled to Turner's Cross to play Cork on March 18 and defied a Cork team that enjoyed majority possession.

Cliftonville picked up their first point in Setanta Sports Cup action when they drew with Dungannon Swifts at their Solitude stadium.

Linfield continued to show great form in the competition by coming from behind to defeat Glentoran at the Oval on the same night as Derry City won their first points of the current competition by beating St. Patrick's Athletic at the Brandywell.

The third series of matches saw St. Patrick's Athletic come storming back into contention as they checked Linfield's run at Richmond Park. St. Pat's won 2-0.

The holders, Drogheda United, made further progress and a 4-0 win over Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park helped them move to the top of Section One on goals aggregate from Cork City.

The competition resumed in September after a mid-Summer break and opened with two big wins for the League of Ireland teams in Section One.

Drogheda United continued to show more consistency in the Setanta Sports Cup than they had been doing in their domestic league by defeating Dungannon Swifts again while Cork City travelled to Celtic Park to overcome Cliftonville. 

Section Two has proved to be the more competitive of the two and the first series of results after the summer recess illustrated that.

St. Patrick's Athletic travelled to Windsor Park and for 45 minutes looked capable of severely damaging the prospects of Linfield. A goal from outstanding midfield player Keith Fahey was a poor return from their first half dominance.

Linfield, in true fashion, came roaring back in the second half to reverse the trend entirely. They were short several regulars because of injury but deserved their late equaliser from Jamie Mulgrew.

Derry City maintained their very good run of form in domestic football by beating Glentoran. Goals from Mark Farren and Ruaidhri Higgins saw them ensure the contest for the two semi-final positions would go the distance.

Drogheda United and Cork City were playing in an effort to ensure they won a home draw for the semi-finals when they met at United Park on September 15. Again the teams finished level 1-1 to ensure they had to wait until the final series to decide the placings in the league section.

The placings in Section Two were thrown open again when Glentoran defeated Linfield to underline just how tight the competition in this section is.

Drogheda improved their prospects of winning a third Setanta Sports Cup in succession by travelling to Belfast and defeating Cliftonville at Celtic Park to ensure they finished on top of Section One above Cork City on goals difference.

Cork scored a 4-1 win over Dungannon Swifts on the same night but goals from Eamon Zayed and Adam Hughes against Cliftonville ensured that Drogheda earned a home game in the semi-finals.

Derry City ensured that they went through to the semi-finals when they travelled to Richmond Park and beat St. Patrick's Athletic by the only goal of the match.

St. Pats were possibly distracted by their game against Hertha Berlin in the UEFA Cup on the following Wednesday, but had no answer as Derry again showed how effective they can be away from the Brandywell as Kevin McHugh shot the winner in the 33rd minute.

The semi-final make-up was completed on Monday, October 6 when Derry City and Glentoran advanced from Section Two.

Derry finished the group stage on a spectacular note with Mark Farren scoring a brilliant hat-trick of goals to give them a 3-0 win over LInfield at the Brandywell.

Glentoran caused something of an upset when they hosted St. Patrick's Athletic at the Oval and won 1-0. Darryl Fordyce headed the only goal of the game in the sixth minute to send Glentoran through to the semi-finals for the first time.

THE SEMI-FINALS

Curiously both semi-finals produced wins for the team playing away from home with Glentoran qualifying for the final for the first time.

They travelled to United Park and surprised the holders of the Setanta Sports Cup, Drogheda United, who were chasing their third consecutive victory in the competition.

Full-back Jason Hill scored after just three minutes for Glentoran and they held out bravely under constant pressure to add one more surprise to their season's exploits.

Cork City were holders of the FAI Ford Cup but they surrendered their trophy when they travelled to the Brandywell and lost in a penalty shoot-out to Derry City in the quarter-final of that event. Two weeks later they made the long trip North again to contest the semi-final of the Setanta Sports Cup.

Cork were short experienced players like Colin Healy and Denis Behan but they won a very tight match by a single goal. Newcomer Tim Kiely headed in a cross from team captain Dan Murray in the 67th minute and this was enough to send them through to the final.

The Final
The final was played before a capacity attendance at Turner's Cross on Saturday, November 1, and Cork City ran out deserving 2 - 1 winners.

They had to come from behind to win it for Glentoran jumped in front in the 12th minute when they scored following a disputed free kick just outside the penalty area.

The referee waved aside Cork's protests and Glentoran took full advantage with Daryl Fordyce rolling the free to one side to allow Kyle Neill strike a show low under the wall of defenders and into the corner of the net.

Cork dominated the match but a combination of their own lack of penetration and stubborn defending by Glentoran meant they had to wait until the 57th minute for their equaliser.

Fittingly the goal was scored by Cork's centre-half and captain Dan Murray for he was outstanding in his general play and the strong leadership he gave the team.

A corner kick from the right wing fell to Murray's feet and he struck the ball into the net from the edge of the six yards box.

Liam Kearney was also in brilliant form for Cork and with Alan O'Connor tearing large holes in the left of Glentoran's defence they were struggling to contain Cork. The winning goal came in the 74th minute when a cross from O'Connor was headed back across goal by Denis Behan for Kearney to head to the net. 

SETANTA SPORTS CUP 2008.

Section One:
Drogheda United, Cork City, Dungannon Swifts, Cliftonville.

Section Two:
Linfield, Glentoran, Derry City, St. Patrick’s Athletic.

Setanta Sports Cup, 2008
Results

Section One
26/02/’08: Drogheda United    3 – 2    Cliftonville                       Match Report
                  Eamon Zayed 40,86            Francis Murphy 58
                  Des Baker 74                       Mark Holland 87

                  Dungannon Swifts    0 – 2    Cork City                       Match Report
                                             George O’Callaghan 16, 41

18/03/'08: Cork City   0 - 0   Drogheda United                           Match Report

                  Cliftonville   0 - 0   Dungannon Swifts                      Match Report

14/04/’08: Dungannon Swifts    0 - 4    Drogheda United      Match Report
                                                                    Tony Grant 4
                                                                   Graham Gartland 35 
                                                                   Adam McMinn og 65
                                                                   Declan O’Brien

                  Cork City     2 – 0     Cliftonville                                 Match Report
                 John O’Flynn 72
                 Dave Mooney 76

01/09/'08: Drogheda United   3 - 0   Dungannon Swifts     Match Report
                   Adam Hughes 29
                   Eamon Zayed 74
                   Ollie Cahill 88

                 Cliftonville   0 - 2   Cork City              Match Report
                                                 Denis Behan 38, 82

15/09/'08: Drogheda United   1 - 1   Cork City       Match Report
                   John Tambouras 50        Darren Murphy 47 

                  Dungannon Swifts   2 - 4   Cliftonville               Match Report
                 Adamson 8                           Patterson 2
                 Baker 47                               Hamill 34, 61
                                                                McMullan 80

22/09/'08: Cliftonville   0 - 2   Drogheda United      Match Report
                                                   Eamon Zayed  30
                                                   Adam Hughes  54

                  Cork City    4 – 1    Dungannon Swifts        Match Report
              Darren Murphy 24    Shea McGerrigan 55
              Liam Kearney 39
              Denis Behan 65 pen
              Darragh Ryan 70

Section Two

10/03/’08: Linfield      3    – 1    Derry City                       Match Report
               Thomas Stewart 23   Ciarán Martyn 79
                Peter Thompson 41
                Glen Ferguson 86 pen

10/03/’08: St. Patrick’s Athletic       3 – 3       Glentoran              Match Report
                  Gary O’Neill 22 , 89                        Michael Halliday 5
                  Keith Fahey 90 + 4                         Colin Nixon 71 pen
                                                                              Daryl Fordyce 85

07/04/’08: Derry City    2 – 0    St. Patrick’s Athletic, at the Brandywell           Match Report
                  Ciarán Martyn 37,
                  Stephen Brennan og 47


07/04/’08: Glentoran    1 – 3    Linfield, at the Oval                                        Match Report
                   Darren Boyce 8,      Paul McAreavey 32, 49
                                                      Mark Dickson 69

15/04/’08: Glentoran    1 – 1    Derry City                                                 Match Report
                  Colin Nixon 70         Conor Sammon pen 50

                  St. Patrick’s Athletic    2 – 0    Linfield                                    Match Report
                   Mark Quigley 7
                   Gary O’Neill 76

02/09/'08: Linfield   1 - 1   St. Patrick's Athletic                Match Report
               Jamie Mulgrew  90    Keith Fahey  40 

                  Derry City   2 - 0   Glentoran                            Match Report
                 Ruaidhri Higgins  35
                 Mark Farren  84

15/09/'08: Linfield   1 - 4   Glentoran                         Match Report     
                   Garrett 12         Gardiner 3 pen
                                              Boyce 27
                                              Halliday 53, 68

24/09/'08: St. Patrick's Athletic   0 - 1   Derry City       Match Report
                                                               Kevin McHugh  33

06/10/'08: Derry City   3 - 0   Linfield                                Match Report
                 Mark Farren 23, 63, 84.

                  Glentoran   1 - 0   St. Patrick's Athletic          Match Report
                  Darryl Fordyce 6 

SEMI-FINALS:

13/10/’08: Drogheda United   0 – 1   Glentoran at United Park      Match Report
                                                                 Jason Hill 3

14/10/’08: Derry City   0 – 1   Cork City at Brandywell           Match Report
                                                    Tim Kiely 67

FIXTURE:

Setanta Sports Cup final:
01/11/’08: Cork City   2 - 1   Glentoran, Turner’s Cross          Match Report
                   Dan Murray 57    Kyle Neill 12
                   Liam Kearney 74

SOME INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES
· Cliftonville became the eleventh different club to compete in the Setanta Sports Cup tournament when they played Drogheda United at United Park on 26th February, 2008.

· Drogheda United have now played eight different clubs in Setanta Sports Cup matches.
They have not met Longford Town and Shelbourne of the clubs who have competed
in the tournament.

· Richie Baker became the first player to score for two different clubs in Setanta Sports Cup matches. He scored twice for Shelbourne in the 3-3 draw v Portadown at Tolka Park on 22nd March 2005 and for Drogheda United v Cliftonville at United Park on
26th February.

· Alan Mathews became only the second manager to take charge of two different clubs in the Setanta Sports Cup tournament when he took charge of Cork City for the match
v Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park on 26th February. Pat Fenlon with Shelbourne (2005 and 2006) and Derry City (2007) was the first manager to achieve this feat.

· Colin Nixon (Glentoran) became the first player to score twice from the penalty spot in Setanta Sports Cup matches when he scored v St. Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park on 10th March. He had previously done so v Linfield at The Oval on 28th February 2006.

· Glenn Ferguson (Linfield) extended his record as the oldest outfield player to play in a Setanta Sports Cup match when he played v Derry City at Windsor Park on 10th March at the age of 38 years 244 days.

· Glenn Ferguson (Linfield) extended his record as the oldest goalscorer in a Setanta Sports Cup match when he scored v Derry City at Windsor Park on 10th March at the age of 38 years 244 days.

· Peter Thompson (Linfield) has now scored in each of the four Setanta Sports Cup tournaments following his goal v Derry City at Windsor Park on 10th March.

· Niall McGinn (Derry City) became only the third player to appear for both FAI and IFA clubs in the Setanta Sports Cup tournament when he played v Linfield at Windsor Park on 10th March. He previously played in the tournament with Dungannon Swifts. The other players to do so are Darren Kelly (Portadown and Derry City) and Dean Fitzgerald (Longford Town and Glentoran).

· Peter Hutton (Derry City) became the oldest player to play for an FAI club in a Setanta Sports Cup match when he played v Linfield at Windsor Park on 10th March at the age of 35 years 8 days.

· Glentoran became only the second club not to win having had a two goal advantage in a Setanta Sports Cup match when they led St. Patrick’s Athletic by 3-1 at Richmond Park on 10th March with only five minutes remaining but conceded two goals to draw the match 3-3. Derry City were the first club to have suffered this fate when they led Linfield by 2-0 at Windsor Park on 26th March 2007 only for the match to end in a 2-2 draw.

· A total of 18 senior international players have now played in the Setanta Sports Cup tournament: Eight for the Republic of Ireland - (Alan Bennett, Jason Byrne, Glen Crowe, Kevin Doyle, Joe Gamble, Shane Long, Alan Moore and Joe O’Cearuill);
Seven for Northern Ireland - (Glenn Ferguson, Rory Hamill, Gary Hamilton, Peter Kennedy, Alan Mannus, Paddy McCourt and Peter Thompson); One for Cameroon - (Joseph Ndo); 
One for Finland - (Sami Ristila) and One - for Wales (David Partridge). Bennett, Doyle and Long were capped after they played in the tournament.

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