Stephen Napier is fast making a name for himself as a goal scorer from the unlikely position of full back. Napier scored in his third successive game to secure the three points for Cork City in the second instalment of their back-to-back clash with Shamrock Rovers.

Napier also scored in City's 3-1 victory at Tolka Park last weekend, and according to the player himself, there was no-one more surprised when his header went into the net.

"The lads were saying during the week that for me to score again it would need a cross from Elvis. All I can say to them now is that Elvis had a tremendous game on the wing for us," Napier quipped.

Cork had to sustain some serious pressure from the Rovers side before opening their account in the 24th minute, when John Cotter's left-footed shot caught a deflection off Gino Brazil and flew into the net after wrong-footing goalkeeper Robert Forde.

With the cushion of a 1-0 lead, Cork began to enjoy their best period of the match; but unfortunately the game very nearly took a turn for the worse when a flare-up involving most of the 22 players took the spotlight from the action.

Matt Britton was booked for a dreadful tackle that inflamed the passions of both sides to boiling point. Fortunately however match referee, Jo Casey, calmed matters down before they got out of hand.

City secured the three points in the 87th minute when Napier raced onto Colin O'Brien's inch-perfect cross to head the ball home.