2002–03 Irish League Cup

2002–03 Irish League Cup

CIS Insurance Cup
Tournament details
Country	Northern Ireland
Teams	20
Final positions
Champions	Glentoran (4th win)
Runner-up	Linfield
Tournament statistics
Matches played	47
Goals scored	146 (3.11 per match)

The 2002–03 Irish League Cup (known as the CIS Insurance Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th edition of Northern Ireland's secondary football knock-out cup competition. It concluded on 3 December 2002 with the final.

Linfield were the defending champions after their seventh League Cup win last season; a 3–1 victory over Glentoran in the previous final. This season both clubs met in the final again but this time Glentoran defeated Linfield 2–0 in the final to win their fourth League Cup overall, and second in three years. This was the fourth time in six years that the two clubs had met in the final, with Linfield coming out on top on all three of the previous occasions.

The twenty clubs taking part were divided into four groups of five clubs based on region. The clubs in each group played each other once, either at home or 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

Eastern Region

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Cliftonville	4	2	2	0	6	3	+3	8
Crusaders	4	2	2	0	4	2	+2	8
Carrick Rangers	4	1	3	0	4	2	+2	6
Larne	4	1	0	3	5	7	–2	3
Ballyclare Comrades	4	0	1	3	2	7	–5	1

Home ╲ Away	BCC	CRK	CLI	CRU	LRN
Ballyclare Comrades		0–0	0–2
Carrick Rangers			1–1		2–0
Cliftonville				1–1	2–1
Crusaders	1–0	1–1
Larne	4–2			0–1

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.

Greater Belfast Region

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Linfield	4	3	1	0	10	5	+5	10
Glentoran	4	2	2	0	6	3	+3	8
Lisburn Distillery	4	1	1	2	5	5	0	4
Ards	4	0	2	2	5	8	–3	2
Bangor	4	0	2	2	0	5	–5	2

Home ╲ Away	ARD	BGR	GLT	LIN	LIS
Ards		0–0	1–3
Bangor			0–0		0–2
Glentoran				1–1	2–1
Linfield	4–3	3–0
Lisburn Distillery	1–1			1–2

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.

Northern Region

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Ballymena United	4	3	1	0	15	3	+12	10
Omagh Town	4	3	1	0	6	2	+4	10
Coleraine	4	2	0	2	11	10	+1	6
Institute	4	1	0	3	5	10	–5	3
Limavady United	4	0	0	4	3	15	–12	0

Home ╲ Away	BYM	COL	INS	LIM	OMA
Ballymena United		3–1	5–1
Coleraine			4–3		1–3
Institute				1–0	0–1
Limavady United	1–7	1–5
Omagh Town	0–0			2–1

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.

Southern Region

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Portadown	4	3	0	1	13	4	+9	9
Glenavon	4	2	0	2	5	4	+1	6
Dungannon Swifts	4	2	0	2	7	7	0	6
Newry Town	4	2	0	2	4	6	–2	6
Armagh City	4	1	0	3	3	11	–8	3

Home ╲ Away	ARM	DUN	GLA	NEW	POR
Armagh City		1–3	0–1
Dungannon Swifts			2–1		2–3
Glenavon				3–0	0–2
Newry Town	0–2	2–0
Portadown	7–0			1–2

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
Ballymena United	2–0	Crusaders
Cliftonville	0–5	Omagh Town
Linfield	2–0	Glenavon
Portadown	1–2	Glentoran

Semi-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Glentoran	5–3	Ballymena United
Omagh Town	2–3	Linfield

Final

Glentoran v Linfield

3 December 2002

Glentoran	2 – 0	Linfield
Halliday  27' Smyth  63'	Report

Windsor Park, Belfast