1971–72 County Antrim Shield

The 1971–72 County Antrim Shield was the 83rd edition of the County Antrim Shield, a cup competition in Northern Irish football.^[1]

1971–72 County Antrim Shield

Country	Northern Ireland
Teams	12
Champions	Ards (2nd win)
Runners-up	Crusaders
Matches played	15
Goals scored	49 (3.27 per match)
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

Ards won the tournament for the 2nd time, defeating Crusaders 5–4 on penalties after the two-legged final finished in a 3–3 draw on aggregate.^[2][3]

For this season and the following season only, the semi-finals and final were played as two legged matches.^[4]

Results

First round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Bangor	1–1	Dundela
Cliftonville	1–3	Chimney Corner
Glentoran	3–0	Linfield Swifts
Linfield	2–3	Larne
Ards	bye
Ballymena United	bye
Crusaders	bye
Distillery	bye

Replay

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Bangor	1–2	Dundela

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Ards	1–0	Glentoran
Ballymena United	2–0	Chimney Corner
Distillery	4–5	Crusaders
Larne	2–0	Dundela

Semi-finals

Teams that were at home in the first leg listed on the left.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ballymena United	1–3	Ards	0–2	1–1
Larne	3–5	Crusaders	3–1	0–4

Final

8 May 1972

Ards	3–0	Crusaders
McCoy   37' McCaughtry   71' Patterson   82'	Report

Castlereagh Park, Newtownards

11 May 1972

Crusaders	3–0 (a.e.t.)	Ards
Finney   66' McQuillan   86' Beckett   90'	Report
Penalties
Finney   McQuillan   Calder   Beckett   Woods	4–5	McAvoy   Patterson   McCoy   Humphries   Nixon

Seaview, Belfast

Referee: Sam Patterson (Belfast)

References

1. "Irish League Archive, County Antrim Shield". Irish League Archive. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
2. "Crues have it all to do!". Belfast Telegraph. 9 May 1972. p. 17.
3. ""On the spot" agony of man who missed". Belfast Telegraph. 12 May 1972. p. 22.
4. "County Antrim Shield Results". Irish League Archive. Retrieved 16 April 2023.

External links

• Northern Ireland - List of County Antrim Shield Winners