Steel & Sons Cup

The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association).

Steel & Sons Cup

Organising body	County Antrim & District F.A.
Founded	1895
Region	Northern Ireland (since 1921) Ireland (1895–1921)
Current champions	Derriaghy Cricket Club (2024–25) (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Glentoran II (13 titles)

The competition culminates in the final which has traditionally been played on 25 December (except when this date falls on a Sunday). The 2006 final, however, broke with tradition when it was staged on the Saturday before 25 December as this was a closed date for all other football fixtures in Northern Ireland.^[1] The final returned to its original Christmas Day slot in 2007-08. The 2012–13 tournament was declared null after Glentoran II were stripped of their title having fielded an ineligible player in an earlier round.^[2] This is the first time in the tournament's history that no winner was declared.

The current holder is Derriaghy Cricket Club.

The trophy

The "Steel Cup" trophy was donated to the County Antrim FA in 1895 by Mr David Steel. Steel was principal of Steel & Sons Ltd, wholesale jewellers, silversmiths, cutlers, watch-makers and opticians, with premises on Royal Avenue, Belfast.^[3]

Since 1973 a second trophy has been awarded after the final - the Player of the Match Award. Initially sponsored by the Sunday News, the first winner was Tommy Craig of Glentoran II. Since the 1993 final the award has been sponsored by the Belfast News Letter.^[4]

Venue of final

The home for the final was rotated round the major Irish League venues in Belfast until the late 1950s when Solitude became the regular venue. Since the 1972-73 season Seaview, home of Crusaders, has hosted all the final ties, with the exception of the final and replay in 1975-76 and the replay of the 1984-85 final, which were played at Solitude.

Past finals

Key:

	Scores level after 90 minutes. A replay was required.
(aet)	Scores level after extra time. A replay was required.
(aet)	Scores level after 90 minutes. Winner was decided in extra time with no penalty shootout required.
pens.	Scores level after extra time. A penalty shootout was required to determine the winner.

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Notes
1895–96	Linfield Swifts	4 – 2	Cliftonville Olympic	Grosvenor Park	[5][6]: 129
1896–97	Wesley	2 – 1	Glentoran II	Solitude	[7]
1897–98	Dunmurry	2 – 0	Ligoniel	Grosvenor Park	[8]
1898–99	Linfield Swifts	1 – 0	Belfast Celtic II	Grosvenor Park	[9]
1899–1900	Cliftonville Olympic	3 – 0	Belfast Celtic II	Grosvenor Park	[10]
1900–01	Distillery West End	5 – 0	Larne	Solitude	[11]
1901–02	Cliftonville Olympic	5 – 3	Distillery II	Grosvenor Park	[12]
1902–03	Highfield	2 – 0	Mountpottinger YMCA	Solitude	[13]
1903–04	Mountpottinger YMCA	4 – 2	Linfield Swifts	Grosvenor Park	[14]
1904–05	Glentoran II	1 – 1	Woodvale	Grosvenor Park	[15]
Replay		1 – 1		Grosvenor Park	[16]
2nd replay		1 – 2		Grosvenor Park	Annulled after protest[17]
3rd replay		A – A		Grosvenor Park	Abandoned due to snow[18][6]: 41
4th replay		1 – 0		Solitude	[19]
1905–06	Mountpottinger YMCA	6 – 0	Parkside Rovers	Grosvenor Park	[20]
1906–07	Cliftonville Olympic	4 – 0	Parkside Rovers	Grosvenor Park	[21]
1907–08	Cliftonville Olympic	2 – 0	Barn	Grosvenor Park	Game 1 annulled after protest.[22][6]: 45
Replay		3 – 0		Grosvenor Park	[23]
1908–09	Glentoran II	3 – 2	Larne	Grosvenor Park	[24]
1909–10	Larne	2 – 0	Oldpark Corinthians	Windsor Park
1910–11	Glentoran II	1 – 1	King's Own Scottish Borderers	Grosvenor Park
Replay		2 – 1		Solitude
1911–12	Black Diamonds	3 – 1	Ollardale	Balmoral Showgrounds	[6]: 47
1912–13	Belfast Celtic II	3 – 1	Glentoran II	Grosvenor Park
1913–14	Cliftonville Olympic	4 – 1	Barn	Grosvenor Park
1914–15	Glentoran II	1 – 1	Belfast Celtic II	Windsor Park
Replay		1 – 0		Solitude
1915–16	Linfield Swifts	0 – 0	Glentoran II	Solitude
Replay		1 – 1		Celtic Park
2nd replay		2 – 0		Celtic Park
1916–17	Belfast Celtic II	2 – 0	Distillery II	The Oval
1917–18	Belfast Celtic II	1 – 0	Glentoran	Windsor Park
1918–19	Glentoran II	1 – 1	Distillery II	Solitude
Replay		2 – 0		Celtic Park
1919–20	Dunmurry	0 – 0	Brantwood	Grosvenor Park	[25]
Replay		1 – 0		Grosvenor Park
1920–21	Brantwood	1 – 0	Bangor	The Oval	[26]
1921–22	Cliftonville Olympic	1 – 1	Dundela	Windsor Park	[27]
Replay		1 – 1		Windsor Park	[28]
2nd replay		2 – 1		Windsor Park	[29]
1922–23	Crusaders	2 – 2	Bangor	Solitude	[30]
Replay		0 – 0		Solitude	[31]
2nd replay		3 – 1 (aet; 20 mins)		Solitude	[32]
1923–24	Bangor	1 – 1	Woodburn	The Oval	[33]
Replay		2 – 0		The Oval	[34]
1924–25	Ormiston	0 – 0	Ballyclare Comrades	Windsor Park	[35]
Replay		0 – 0		Windsor Park	[36]
2nd replay		1 – 0		Windsor Park	[37]
1925–26	St. Mary's	4 – 0	Summerfield	Solitude	[38]
1926–27	Crusaders	5 – 3 (aet)	Dunmurry Rec.	Celtic Park	[39]
1927–28	Willowfield	0 – 0	Ormiston	The Oval	[40]
Replay		2 – 1		The Oval	[41]
1928–29	Crusaders	4 – 0	Broadway United	Windsor Park	[42]
1929–30	Broadway United	2 – 2	Linfield Rangers	Solitude	[43]
Replay		5 – 0		Solitude	[44]
1930–31	Crusaders	3 – 3	Charleville	The Oval	[45]
Replay		3 – 1		The Oval	[46]
1931–32	Brantwood	3 – 0	Dunmurry Rec.	Celtic Park	[47]
1932–33	Glentoran II	2 – 2	Belfast Celtic II	Grosvenor Park	[48]
Replay		3 – 1		Grosvenor Park	[49]
1933–34	Crusaders	3 – 1	Belfast Celtic II	Solitude	[50]
1934–35	Belfast Celtic II	3 – 2	Crusaders	Windsor Park	[51]
1935–36	Belfast Celtic II	1 – 1	Glentoran II	Solitude	[52]
Replay		2 – 1		Solitude	[53]
1936–37	Crusaders	3 – 1	Glentoran II	Celtic Park	[54]
1937–38	Glentoran II	2 – 1	Summerfield	Grosvenor Park	[55]
1938–39	Sirocco Works	2 – 1	Crusaders	The Oval	[56]
1939–40	Linfield Swifts	2 – 0	Crusaders	Grosvenor Park	[57]
1940–41	Bangor Reserves	2 – 1	Distillery II	Solitude	[58]
1941–42	Larne Olympic	2 – 1	Belfast Celtic II	Windsor Park	[59]
1942–43	Larne Olympic	4 – 1	Victoria Works United	Celtic Park	[60]
1943–44	Ballyclare Comrades	4 – 2	Glentoran II	Solitude	[61]
1944–45	Bangor Reserves	3 – 0	Larne Olympic	Windsor Park	[62]
1945–46	Dundela	0 – 0	Bangor Reserves	Celtic Park	[63]
Replay		3 – 1		Celtic Park	[64]
1946–47	Linfield Swifts	4 – 1	Crusaders	Solitude	[65]
1947–48	Crusaders	2 – 2	Larne	Celtic Park	[66]
Replay		3 – 2		Celtic Park	[67]
1948–49	Linfield Swifts	6 – 2	Brantwood	Solitude	[68]
1949–50	Albert Foundry	3 – 2	Crusaders Reserves	Grosvenor Park	[69]
1950–51	Brantwood	2 – 1	Ballymoney United	The Oval	[70]
1951–52	Brantwood	2 – 0	Feltville United	Windsor Park	[71]
1952–53	Brantwood	2 – 1	Larne	The Oval	[72]
1953–54	Crusaders Reserves	4 – 3	Linfield Swifts	Solitude	[73]
1954–55	East Belfast	5 – 0	Dundela	Grosvenor Park	[74]
1955–56	Brantwood	2 – 0	Carrick Rangers	Windsor Park	[75]
1956–57	Larne	2 – 2	Linfield Swifts	Grosvenor Park	[76]
Replay		3 – 1		Grosvenor Park	[77]
1957–58	Glentoran II	3 – 0	Larne	Solitude
1958–59	Larne	2 – 1	Crusaders Reserves	Grosvenor Park
1959–60	Larne	1 – 0	Ards II	Solitude	[78]
1960–61	Ballyclare Comrades	4 – 3	Dundela	The Oval	[79]
1961–62	Carrick Rangers	2 – 2	Ballymena Utd Reserves	Solitude
Replay		1 – 0		Grosvenor Park	[80]
1962–63	Chimney Corner	2 – 1	Dundela	Solitude	[81]
1963–64	Dundela	1 – 1	Larne	Solitude	[82]
Replay		4 – 1		Solitude	[83]
1964–65	Larne	2 – 0	Brantwood	Grosvenor Park	[84]
1965–66	Glentoran II	1 – 0	Larne	Solitude
1966–67	Glentoran II	4 – 0	Ards II	Solitude	[85]
1967–68	Carrick Rangers	3 – 1	Dundela	Solitude	[86]
1968–69	Larne	3 – 1	Glentoran II	Grosvenor Park	[87]
1969–70	Larne	3 – 1	Ballyclare Comrades	Solitude	[88]
1970–71	Larne	1 – 1	Dundonald	Solitude	[89]
Replay		3 – 1		Solitude	[90]
1971–72	Larne	1 – 0	Dundela	Solitude	[91]
1972–73	Linfield Swifts	2 – 1	Dundela	Seaview	[92]
1973–74	Chimney Corner	2 – 0	Glentoran II	Seaview	[93]
1974–75	Ballyclare Comrades	1 – 0	Glentoran II	Seaview	[94]
1975–76	Chimney Corner	1 – 1	Ballyclare Comrades	Seaview
Replay		5 – 2		Solitude	[95]
1976–77	Brantwood	2 – 0	Ards II	Seaview	[96]
1977–78	Downpatrick Rec.	1 – 1	Ballyclare Comrades	Seaview
Replay		3 – 1		Seaview	[97]
1978–79	Cromac Albion	2 – 2	Ballyclare Comrades	Seaview
Replay		4 – 1		Seaview	[98]
1979–80	Short Bros	2 – 0	Barn United	Seaview	[99]
1980–81	Dundela	3 – 1	Killyleagh YC	Seaview	[100]
1981–82	Ballyclare Comrades	2 – 2	Killyleagh YC	Seaview
Replay		3 – 2		Seaview	[101]
1982–83	Dundela	2 – 0	RUC	Seaview	[102]
1983–84	Linfield Swifts	2 – 1	Ballymena United Reserves	Seaview	[103]
1984–85	Ballyclare Comrades	1 – 1	Distillery II	Seaview
Replay		1 – 0		Solitude	[104]
1985–86	Brantwood	1 – 1	Ballymoney United	Seaview
Replay		5 – 1		Seaview	[105]
1986–87	Ballyclare Comrades	3 – 0	Killyleagh YC	Seaview	[106]
1987–88	Dundela	1 – 1	Linfield Swifts	Seaview
Replay		1 – 0		Seaview	[107]
1988–89	Dundela	2 – 1	Glentoran II	Seaview	[108]
1989–90	Glentoran II	4 – 1	East Belfast	Seaview	[109]
1990–91	Dundela	2 – 0	RUC	Seaview	[110]
1991–92	Comber Rec	4 – 1	Brantwood	Seaview	[111]
1992–93	East Belfast	1 – 0	Linfield Swifts	Seaview	[112]
1993–94	RUC	5 – 1	Dundela	Seaview	[113]
1994–95	Bangor Reserves	1 – 0	Linfield Swifts	Seaview	[113]
1995–96	Ballymena United Reserves	1 – 1	Dromara Village	Seaview
Replay		2 – 1		Seaview	[114]
1996–97	Chimney Corner	2 – 1	Comber Rec	Seaview	[115]
1997–98	Linfield Swifts	1 – 0 (aet)	Dundela	Seaview	Match decided by golden goal[116]
1998–99	Dunmurry Rec	2 – 0	RUC	Seaview	[117]
1999–2000	Dundela	3 – 2	Comber Rec	Seaview	[118]
2000–01	Glentoran II	2 – 1 (aet)	Cliftonville Olympic	Seaview	Match decided by golden goal[119]
2001–02	Glentoran II	2 – 2 (aet) (4 – 2 pens.)	Dundela	Seaview	[120]
2002–03	Killyleagh YC	1 – 0	Chimney Corner	Seaview	[121]
2003–04	Donegal Celtic	3 – 0	Killyleagh YC	Seaview	[122]
2004–05	Bangor	2 – 0	Glentoran II	Seaview	Original game abandoned due to snow[123][124]
2005–06	Crusaders	4 – 1	Dundela	Seaview	[125]
2006–07	Brantwood	4 – 3 (aet)	Harland & Wolff Welders	Seaview	[126]
2007–08	Dundela	2 – 0	Ballyclare Comrades	Seaview	[127]
2008–09	Ards	2 – 1	Carrick Rangers	Seaview	[128]
2009–10	Kilmore Rec	2 – 0	Downpatrick	Seaview	First final played on an artificial pitch[129]
2010–11	Harland & Wolff Welders	3 – 1	Knockbreda	Seaview	[130]
2011–12	Bangor	2 – 1	Larne	Seaview	[131]
2012–13	Cup withheld. Glentoran II beat Ards 2-1 in the final, but were later disqualified for fielding an ineligible player in an earlier round.[132][133]
2013–14	Dundela	4 – 1	Immaculata	Seaview	[134]
2014–15	Carrick Rangers	4 – 1	Harland & Wolff Welders	Seaview	[135]
2015–16	Harland & Wolff Welders	1 – 1 (aet) (4 – 1 pens.)	Albert Foundry	Seaview	[136]
2016–17	Linfield Swifts	3 – 1	Dundela	Seaview
2017–18	Newington	1 – 0	Linfield Swifts	Seaview	[137]
2018–19	East Belfast	3 – 0	Sirocco Works	Seaview	[138]
2019–20	Linfield Swifts	3 – 1	Newington	Seaview	[139]
2021–22	Newington	1 – 0	Linfield Swifts	Seaview	[140]
2022–23	Bangor	2 – 1	Dunmurry Rec.	Seaview	[141]
2023–24	Comber Rec	3 – 2 (aet)	Crumlin Star	Seaview	[142]
2024–25	Derriaghy Cricket Club	'1 – 0	Willowbank	Seaview	[143]

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Winning Years
Glentoran II	13	1904–05, 1908–09, 1910–11, 1914–15, 1918–19, 1932–33, 1937–38, 1957–58, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1989–90, 2000–01, 2001–02
Linfield Swifts	11	1895–96, 1898–99, 1915–16, 1939–40, 1946–47, 1948–49, 1972–73, 1983–84, 1997–98, 2016–17, 2019–20
Dundela	10	1945–46, 1963–64, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1999–2000, 2007–08, 2013–14
Larne	9	1909–10, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1964–65, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72
Brantwood	9	1920–21, 1931–32, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1955–56, 1976–77, 1985–86, 2006–07
Crusaders	8	1922–23, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1947–48, 2005–06
Ballyclare Comrades	6	1943–44, 1960–61, 1974–75, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1986–87
Cliftonville Olympic	6	1899–1900, 1901–02, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1913–14, 1921–22
Belfast Celtic II	5	1912–13, 1916–17, 1917–18, 1934–35, 1935–36
Chimney Corner	4	1962–63, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1996–97
Bangor	4	1923–24, 2004–05, 2011–12, 2022–23
Carrick Rangers	3	1961–62, 1967–68, 2014–15
Dunmurry Rec.	3	1897–98, 1919–20, 1998–99
Bangor Reserves	3	1940–41, 1944–45, 1994–95
East Belfast	3	1954–55, 1992–93, 2018–19
Comber Rec	2	1991–92, 2023–24
Harland & Wolff Welders	2	2010–11, 2015–16
Larne Olympic	2	1941–42, 1942–43
Mountpottinger YMCA	2	1903–04, 1905–06
Newington	2	2017–18, 2021–22
Distillery II	1	1900–01
Ballymena United Reserves	1	1995–96
Albert Foundry (1923)	1	1949–50
Ards	1	2008–09
Black Diamonds	1	1911–12
Broadway United	1	1929–30
Cromac Albion	1	1978–79
Donegal Celtic	1	2003–04
Downpatrick Rec.	1	1977–78
Highfield	1	1902–03
Killyleagh Youth	1	2002–03
Kilmore Rec	1	2009–10
Ormiston	1	1924–25
RUC	1	1993–94
St Mary's	1	1925–26
Shorts	1	1979–80
Sirocco Works	1	1938–39
Wesley	1	1896–97
Willowfield	1	1927–28

See also

• Bob Radcliffe Cup
• Craig Memorial Cup
• Fermanagh & Western Intermediate Cup
• County Antrim Shield