Renfrewshire Cup

The Renfrewshire Cup is an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final is generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest teams in the county, Paisley's St Mirren and Greenock Morton.^[1]

The Cup is currently held by St Mirren, after they defeated Greenock Morton 1-0 at Cappielow on Saturday 19 July 2014. The only goal of the game came in the 76th minute, when defender Jason Naismith slotted a low shot into the bottom left hand corner of the goal, following a cross from Gregg Wylde.^[2] The match was played in front of 2,811 fans, on a rain soaked afternoon.

St Mirren defender Marc McAusland lifted the trophy.

Tournament

The tournament for the Renfrewshire Cup is contested between four teams from the county. St Mirren and Greenock Morton qualify automatically and each team competes with one of the finalist teams from a local amateur tournament, the Victoria Cup. The two victorious teams from these semi-finals go on to compete in the final game.

History

The Renfrewshire Cup is the third oldest football trophy in Scotland still competed for. Only the Scottish Cup and East of Scotland Shield are older and still contested.

1991 was the last year in which Morton or St Mirren lost to other opposition. On this occasion amateurs Bellaire defeated St Mirren at Love Street with a 1-0 victory. Morton defeated them in the final.

The first tournament was held in 1879 and won by Thornliebank.^[1] In 1953/54 Babcock & Wilcox were the only team outwith St Mirren and Morton to win it since Port Glasgow were triumphant in 1909.

Former holders

As of 19 July 2014

The number of times each team has won the Renfrewshire Cup:^[1]

• St Mirren - 55
• Greenock Morton - 52
• Abercorn - 5
• Port Glasgow Athletic - 5
• Arthurlie - 2
• Thornliebank - 2
• Babcock & Wilcox - 1

References

Full record of the Renfrewshire Cup at the Scottish Football Historical Archive