During the nine editions of the competition, the cup featured between six and twelve teams taking part. It began as a six-club competition called the "Setanta Cup" in 2005, before being expanded to eight clubs and renamed to the "Setanta Sports Cup" in 2006. The competition expanded again to nine clubs in 2009–10, and from 2011 until 2013 the competition was at its largest, with twelve clubs taking part. It was then reduced back to the 2006 number of eight clubs for the 2014 competition. The champions and runners-up from the respective leagues, and the winners of the respective cup competitions (FAI Cup and League of Ireland Cup from the League of Ireland, and the Irish Cup and NIFL Cup from the NIFL Premiership) qualified for the 2014 edition. If a club qualified via a cup win and would also have qualified by league table position, one of the spots would be awarded to the next highest club in the league table that had not already qualified. The 2014 competition was played in a two-legged knock-out tie format up until the final. All four clubs from each league participated in the quarter-finals, with clubs from the same association being kept apart in the draw. The quarter-final winners again played a two-legged knock-out tie in the semi-finals for a place in the final, which was a single game.