The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean Cup for sponsorship purposes, and commonly known as the Irish League Cup) is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Northern Ireland Football League. It is the third-most prestigious competition in domestic Northern Irish football after the NIFL Premiership and Irish Cup. Unlike the Irish Cup, the League Cup does not have a berth for UEFA Conference League qualification. The cup has been operated by the Northern Ireland Football League since the 2013–14 season when it took over the administration from the Irish Football Association (IFA), after which the cup was renamed to the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Cup.

Since the 2017–18 season, the Cup has been sponsored by McLean Bookmakers. The competition's previous sponsors are JBE (2015–16), WASP Solutions (2013–14 and 2014–15), Irn Bru (2011–12 and 2012–13), Co-operative Insurance (2001–02 to 2010–11), Coca-Cola (1998–99 to 2000–01), Wilkinson Sword (1991–92 to 1997–98) and Roadferry Freight (1986–87 to 1990–91).

Cliftonville are the holders. They defeated Glentoran 1–0 after extra time in the final on 9 March 2025 to lift the cup for the seventh time.

Unlike the Irish Cup, the League Cup is restricted to the 38 Northern Ireland Football League clubs competing in the NIFL Premiership, NIFL Championship, and NIFL Premier Intermediate League. All rounds of the competition use a knock-out system consisting of one-legged ties. In the event that the scores are level after 90 minutes, extra time is played, and if the teams are still level after 120 minutes there is a penalty shoot-out.

The 14 NIFL Premier Intermediate League clubs enter the preliminary round draw, with 12 of them being drawn to face each other in six ties and the remaining two clubs receiving byes. The six preliminary round winners and the two clubs that received byes then join the 24 NIFL Premiership and Championship clubs in the first round. The 16 highest-ranked clubs from the previous season's league system are then seeded in the first round to avoid drawing each other. The first round is the only round of the competition in which seeding is used. From there on the competition uses an open draw with a standard knock-out format, consisting of the second round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.

The competition began with 32 clubs in a straight knock-out format in February 1987, and included teams from the Irish League B Division until 1997–98. From 1998–99 until 2007–08, only senior (Irish League and Irish Premier League) teams competed, but the competition was opened up to the 17 Championship clubs in 2008–09, and again in 2010–11 to include clubs from Championship 2, after the Championship 2 League Cup was abolished. From 2001–02 until 2007–08, a group stage followed by a knock-out system was used instead of the straight knock-out system, and for two seasons (2008–09 and 2009–10) two-legged home and away aggregate ties were used up until the quarter-finals, instead of single matches.

When it was first introduced in the 1986–87 season, it was one of a number of senior cup competitions run by the Irish League, originally to compensate for the relatively few league fixtures (traditionally 22 or 26), but also as vehicles for sponsorship revenue. The League Cup would have been considered less prestigious than the long-standing Gold Cup and Ulster Cup. Over time however, these other cup competitions were phased out as the number of Irish League fixtures increased and the public appetite for additional competitions reduced, leaving the League Cup as the only cup competition run by the Northern Ireland Football League and now established as the third most prestigious competition in Northern Ireland after the national top-flight and national cup. The actual trophy presented to the winners is the old City Cup, which was another senior Irish League competition that was discontinued in 1975.

The first final took place on 9 May 1987 at Glentoran's ground, the Oval, and was contested by Linfield and Crusaders. Linfield became the inaugural winners of the cup, defeating Crusaders 2–1. Since then, Linfield have been the most successful club in the competition, winning the Cup a record 12 times overall in a record 15 final appearances - their three final defeats all coming against Big Two rivals Glentoran. The most common final has indeed been the Big Two derby, which has occurred seven times - the last of which came in 2005–06. The 1988–89 final, played between the two sides at the Oval on 11 November 1988 was won courtesy of a goal by Glentoran goalkeeper Alan Patterson, via a kick from his own penalty area. This was the first time that a goalkeeper had ever scored in a British football final.