A year and a half on from James McLaughlin knocking home Coleraine's winner in the 2019/20 final defeat of Crusaders at Windsor Park, the BetMcLean League Cup has finally returned.
On Saturday, Newry City faced Tobermore and Ballyclare Comrades hosted Queen's University.
A Daniel Hughes double helped Newry on their way into the next round as they defeated Tobermore 2-1.
It wasn't all plain sailing for Darren Mullen's men as the Premier Intermediate League side equalised through Paul Smith in the second half, but a Hughes spot kit on 61 minutes sealed it for City.
Goals from Liam McKenna and Ciaran Heggarty fired Ballyclare Comrades in to the second round as they beat Queens 2-1 ay Dixon Park.
New signing Mckenna opened his account for the club on his debut just before the half hour mark.
Queens levelled through Matthew Hughes' 25-yard rocket which gave Comrades keeper Richard Purcell no chance.
But, barely four minutes after that, Heggarty bagged the winner from the edge of the six yard box from a McKenna free-kick which caused the visiting defence serious problems.
Championship side, Annagh United will play Knockbreda in the other first round clash on Tuesday night.
Annagh star man, Craig Taylor, knows that his team will face a hard task but is relishing a competitive fixture.
"We'll be going in to the game knowing that Knockbreda will be a tough opposition," he told Belfast Live
"We're all excited to get back out onto the pitch for a competitive game, some of our boys haven't had a competitive game in over a year so the thought of getting back out there is great.
"We don't see the League Cup as a free hit or anything like that. You always want to go on a cup run, plus with the way fixtures have fallen it could give us some momentum to carry on into the first league game, but our focus is on tomorrow night.
"We are approaching it like any other game and that's to win."
