| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country |  Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland |
| Teams | 6 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Linfield (1st title) |
| Runner-up | Shelbourne |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 13 |
| Goals scored | 33 (2.54 per match) |
The 2005 Setanta Cup was the first edition of the Setanta Sports Cup, a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. It was inaugurated as a cross-border competition between clubs from the League of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland and the Irish League in Northern Ireland.
The cup is sponsored by Setanta Sports; the Irish sports television network. The competition was launched with Setanta providing support for prize money (€350,000) and sponsorship (€1.6 million over 4 years).
For this season the cup was simply known as the Setanta Cup before being renamed the Setanta Sports Cup from 2006 onwards.
Glentoran beat Longford Town 2–1 in the first ever game of the competition on 15 March 2005. The first final saw Belfast side Linfield defeat Dublin's Shelbourne 2–0 at Tolka Park in Dublin on 21 May 2005 to collect the winner's prize of €150,000.[1]