With no fewer than ten victories and a further three final appearances there can be no doubting Linfield's dominance in the League Cup over the years.

The first winners of the competition, back in 1987, the Blues were a particularly potent force in the first 20 or so years but have since only lifted the trophy once in the past 15 seasons.

Going back to that inaugural victory at the end of the 1986/87 campaign, Linfield defeated Crusaders at The Oval 2-1 thanks to goals from Syd Burrows and Martin McGaughey.

Although back in the final a couple of years later but losing to rivals Glentoran, the Blues had to wait until April 1992 to get their hands on the trophy again courtesy of a 3-0 win over Larne.

Larne's Wesley Hanna turned the ball into his own net with just over a quarter-of-an-hour on the clock before club legend McGaughey doubled the advantage on 73 minutes and Glenn Hunter completed the scoring deep into stoppage time.

Another couple of years elapsed before the trophy was back in the Windsor Park boardroom courtesy of a two-goal defeat of this season's opponents, Coleraine, with both strikes coming within a minute of each other just before the hour through Gary Peebles and Ray Campbell.

Fast forward to the 1997/98 campaign, and a 1-0 victory over the Glens thanks to Jeff Spiers' strike right on the stroke of half-time.

That sparked a period that produced four triumphs in five seasons.

Glentoran were defeated again in the 1999 decider. Scoreless at the end of normal time, Glenn Ferguson opened the scoring on 94 minutes only for Scott Young to respond a short time later. However Ferguson registered again with eight minutes remaining to secure victory for David Jeffrey's side.

Coleraine were the victims for a second time in the first final of the new millennium. On that occasion, a then record setting scoreline and still the joint highest to date, the game was over as a contest after Tony Gorman, Chris Morgan and David Larmour all found the net before the break with Pat McShane wrapping things up late on.

The Blues faltered at the semi-final stage a season later, but they were back on top during the 2001/02 campaign with a third final defeat of great rivals Glentoran. Morgan and Gorman got their names on the scoresheet again, both in the first half, with Russell Kelly hitting a third in the final ten minutes.

Glentoran were once more accounted for in the 2005/06 final, and they were largely undone due to Ferguson's prowess after he bagged a hat-trick, opening the scoring as early as the third minute before doubling up early in the second half and claiming the match ball with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining.

And he got amongst the goals again a couple of years after that with a brace as Crusaders fell by the wayside.

Peter Thompson had fired Linfield in front a minute into the second half but goals from David Rainey and Seamus Brown handed the advantage to the Crues. However, Ferguson equalised with four minutes remaining - for what was his 500th career goal - before bagging the winner with sixty seconds of normal time remaining.

What followed was a somewhat barren spell when, for over a decade, the previously prolific Blues failed to even progress beyond the last eight on all but one occasion.

But that all changed in February 2019 when an Andrew Waterworth low strike in the bottom corner after 15 minutes was enough to see off Ballymena United to claim the trophy for the tenth time.

Linfield face Coleraine in this season's BetMcLean Cup final on March 12th at the National Football Stadium (kick-off 3pm). Have you got your tickets yet? Buy now at nifootballleague.com/tickets