1896–97 County Antrim Shield

The 1896–97 County Antrim Shield was the 9th edition of the County Antrim Shield, a cup competition in Irish football.^[1]

1896–97 County Antrim Shield

Tournament details
Country	Ireland
Date	16 January 1897 – 12 April 1897
Teams	8
Defending champions	Distillery
Final positions
Champions	Distillery (4th win)
Runners-up	Linfield
Tournament statistics
Matches played	10
Goals scored	44 (4.4 per match)
← 1895–96 1897–98 →

Distillery won the tournament for the 4th time and 2nd consecutive year, defeating Linfield 3–1 in the final replay, after the original final ended in a 2–2 draw.^[2][3][4]

Results

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Cliftonville	1–2	Glentoran
Distillery	4–1	North Staffordshire Regiment
Linfield	6–1	Wesley
Milltown	1–6	Celtic

Semi-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Distillery	2–11	Celtic
Linfield	2–0	Glentoran

• ¹ The match was ordered to be replayed after a protest.

Replay

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Distillery	2–11	Celtic

• ¹ The match was abandoned after 75 minutes and was ordered to be replayed.

Second replay

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Distillery	4–1	Celtic

Final

3 April 1897

Distillery	2–2	Linfield
Baird Stanfield	Report	R. Torrans Scott

Solitude, Belfast

Attendance: 5,000

Replay

12 April 1897

Distillery	3–1	Linfield
Hall Baird Mercer	Report	Gaffikin

Solitude, Belfast

Attendance: 1,500