2021–22 Northern Ireland Football League Cup

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Northern Ireland Football League Cup 2021–22
Region	Northern Ireland
Dates	31 Jul 2021 – 13 Mar 2022
Number of teams	35
Defending champions	Coleraine
Total matches played	33
Total goals scored	142
← 2019–20	2022–23 →

The 2021–22 Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the 35th edition of Northern Ireland's football knock-out cup competition for national league clubs, and the seventh edition of the competition as the Northern Ireland Football League Cup. The Northern Ireland Football League Cup returned after a one-year hiatus, following the cancellation of the 2020–21 competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland. The competition is being contested by the 35 member clubs of the Northern Ireland Football League, commencing on 31 July 2021 with the first round and concluding with the final on 13 March 2022. For the first time in the competition's history, the final will be played on a Sunday. The competition has been sponsored by McLean Bookmakers since the 2017–18 season.

Coleraine are the defending champions, after a 2–1 win over Crusaders in the 2020 final secured their second League Cup win overall; their first in 32 years. This was their first League Cup win since they won the 1987–88 competition, setting a new record for the longest gap between League Cup titles.

Format and Schedule

The competition is open to the 35 members of the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL). Usually, the 16 highest-ranked clubs from the previous league season are exempt from entering until the second round, where they are seeded to avoid being drawn against each other. However, as the 2020–21 second and third tier league seasons were cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland, the rankings from the 2019–20 season were used instead. This consisted of all twelve 2019–20 NIFL Premiership clubs, along with the top four clubs from the 2019–20 NIFL Championship. The remaining 19 NIFL clubs entered the draw for the first round, with six of them being randomly drawn to face each other in three first round matches, and 13 of them receiving byes into the second round. The three first round winners and the 13 teams given byes make up the 16 unseeded clubs in the second round.

From the third round onwards, the competition is operated in a straight knockout format with no seeding. Replays are not used in the competition, with all matches using extra time and penalties to determine the winner if necessary.

Round	First match date	Fixtures	Clubs
First round	31 July 2021	3	35 → 32
Second round	14 September 2021	16	32 → 16
Third round	13 October 2021	8	16 → 8
Quarter-finals	9 November 2021	4	8 → 4
Semi-finals	14 December 2021	2	4 → 2
Final	13 March 2022	1	2 → 1

Results

The league tier of each club at the time of entering the competition is listed in parentheses.

(1) = NIFL Premiership
(2) = NIFL Championship
(3) = NIFL Premier Intermediate League

First round

The first round draw was made on 9 July 2021. The matches were played on 31 July and 3 August 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
31 July 2021
Ballyclare Comrades (2)	2–1	Queen's University (2)
Newry City (2)	2–1	Tobermore United (3)
3 August 2021
Annagh United (2)	4–1	Knockbreda (2)

Second round

The second round draw was made on 13 August 2021. The matches were played on 14 and 15 September 2021. The top 16 league clubs from the previous season were seeded in this round in order to avoid drawing each other.

Team 1  Score  Team 2 14 September 2021 Annagh United (2) 2–4 Ballymena United (1) Ballyclare Comrades (2) 0–4 Linfield (1) Bangor (3) 0–5 Coleraine (1) Carrick Rangers (1) 2–1 (a.e.t.) Dergview (2) Cliftonville (1) 2–0 Harland & Wolff Welders (2) Crusaders (1) 5–0 Moyola Park (3) Dundela (2) 0–4 (a.e.t.) Ballinamallard United (2) Dungannon Swifts (1) 3–0 Armagh City (3) Glenavon (1) 5–1 Portstewart (3) Glentoran (1) 5–0 Banbridge Town (3) Institute (2) 4–3 PSNI (3) Larne (1) 4–0 Limavady United (3) Loughgall (2) 6–2 Lisburn Distillery (3) Newry City (2) 1–2 (a.e.t.) Warrenpoint Town (1) Portadown (1) 2–0 Newington (3) 15 September 2021 Ards (2) 4–0 Dollingstown (3)

Seeded Unseeded Ards (2) Ballinamallard United (2) Ballymena United (1) Carrick Rangers (1) Cliftonville (1) Coleraine (1) Crusaders (1) Dungannon Swifts (1) Glenavon (1) Glentoran (1) Institute (2) Larne (1) Linfield (1) Loughgall (2) Portadown (1) Warrenpoint Town (1) Annagh United (2) Armagh City (3) Ballyclare Comrades (2) Banbridge Town (3) Bangor (3) Dergview (2) Dollingstown (3) Dundela (2) Harland & Wolff Welders (2) Limavady United (3) Lisburn Distillery (3) Moyola Park (3) Newington (3) Newry City (2) Portstewart (3) PSNI (3) Clubs in bold = Second round winners

Third round

The third round draw was made on 16 September 2021. The matches were played on 13 and 26 October, and 2 November 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
13 October 2021
Carrick Rangers (1)	0–2	Coleraine (1)
Crusaders (1)	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Ballymena United (1)
Glenavon (1)	2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Glentoran (1)
Warrenpoint Town (1)	1–0	Loughgall (2)
26 October 2021
Ards (2)	1–4	Cliftonville (1)
Portadown (1)	1–0	Ballinamallard United (2)
2 November 2021
Limavady United (3)	3–2	Dungannon Swifts (1)
Linfield (1)	11–0	PSNI (3)

Quarter-finals

The draw was made on 16 October 2021. The quarter-finals were played on 9 November 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Ballymena United (1)	3–1	Linfield (1)
Coleraine (1)	2–0	Glentoran (1)
Portadown (1)	1–2	Cliftonville (1)
Warrenpoint Town (1)	6–1	Limavady United (3)

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 14 December 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Coleraine (1)	6–1	Warrenpoint Town (1)
Cliftonville (1)	3–0	Ballymena United (1)

Final

The final will be played on 13 March 2022 at Windsor Park, Belfast.

13 March 2022 15:00 GMT	Coleraine (1)	v	Cliftonville (1)	Windsor Park, Belfast

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Football in Northern Ireland

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