Whats the craic with all the cups in northern island?

Loads of cups, very little prize money - or none at all. All they serve a means of tiring out my players.

Do teams take them seriously IRL even though they're worthless?

Bump.......

Everything is relative I suppose.

The amount of prize money involved is a pittance when compared to the English Premiership, but any prize money at all in N.Ireland is greatly received.

Some of the bigger teams field Reserve/youth teams in some competitions and the regional Cups are likely to be taken less seriosly than the big 2, (The Irish Cup and the League Cup).

Winning either of these grants you a place in the All Ireland Cup which is the only competition with significant prize-money, but the group games at the business end of the league campaign and in the middle of the closing stages of the Irish Cup mean that it might be a distraction to all but the biggest squads.

Have a look on the net and see who has won these competitions recently irl and it might help you a little.

The smaller clubs do tend to take all cups seriously, as even if the prize money is small, its still extra gate recepits, especially if you draw a bigger team. Only a handful of teams will compete in the all-Ireland cup and of course their are regional cups so the fixture load isn't too heavy for the smaller clubs anyway. The league/cup format in Northern Ireland seems to be 'revamped' every two or three seasons though so its best no to get too caught up in it.