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Pat's entertainment
Cliftonville will face St Patrick's Athletic in the First Round of the Setanta Sports Cup.
The sides met at the same stage of last season's competition with the Reds securing progress by virtue of a 3-0 win
at Solitude before going down 2-0 in an exciting clash at Richmond Park and we will once again have home
advantage in the February 13 home leg ahead of a trip to Dublin on the 20th.
The First Round consists of eight Unseeded clubs, who will battle it out for a place in the next phase, where a further
four Seeded sides - two from the Carling Premiership and two from the Airtricity League - join the competition, which
operates on a two-legged knockout basis up until the Final.
This afternoon's draw, which was conducted at Aviva Stadium, kicked off Cliftonville's fourth campaign in the
All-Ireland tournament, with last year's march to the Semi Finals proving our most successful involvement to date.
In 2008, four points gathered from home and away dates with Dungannon Swifts were nowhere near enough to
qualify from Group 1, with Drogheda United and eventual winners Cork City making straightforward progress, while
the 2009 tournament saw Cliftonville again drawn alongside Cork but it was the Leesiders' enforced withdrawal from
the competition that delivered the Reds' only points of a difficult group, which Sligo Rovers topped en route to a Semi
Final defeat at the hands of St Patrick's Athletic.
Twelve months later and the abandonment of the group phase in a re-structuring of the competition proved beneficial
to Cliftonville, who overcame St Pat's in the First Round ahead of an incredible 10-6 defeat of Crusaders in the Quarter
Finals only for Dundalk to claim a 5-2 triumph in the last four.
The sides met at the same stage of last season's competition with the Reds securing progress by virtue of a 3-0 win
at Solitude before going down 2-0 in an exciting clash at Richmond Park and we will once again have home
advantage in the February 13 home leg ahead of a trip to Dublin on the 20th.
The First Round consists of eight Unseeded clubs, who will battle it out for a place in the next phase, where a further
four Seeded sides - two from the Carling Premiership and two from the Airtricity League - join the competition, which
operates on a two-legged knockout basis up until the Final.
This afternoon's draw, which was conducted at Aviva Stadium, kicked off Cliftonville's fourth campaign in the
All-Ireland tournament, with last year's march to the Semi Finals proving our most successful involvement to date.
In 2008, four points gathered from home and away dates with Dungannon Swifts were nowhere near enough to
qualify from Group 1, with Drogheda United and eventual winners Cork City making straightforward progress, while
the 2009 tournament saw Cliftonville again drawn alongside Cork but it was the Leesiders' enforced withdrawal from
the competition that delivered the Reds' only points of a difficult group, which Sligo Rovers topped en route to a Semi
Final defeat at the hands of St Patrick's Athletic.
Twelve months later and the abandonment of the group phase in a re-structuring of the competition proved beneficial
to Cliftonville, who overcame St Pat's in the First Round ahead of an incredible 10-6 defeat of Crusaders in the Quarter
Finals only for Dundalk to claim a 5-2 triumph in the last four.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Liam Boyce and Ger O'Brien will meet in next month's Setanta battles