Cork City ... 3 Shamrock Rovers ... 2 Cork City pulled off a remarkable comeback victory with three goals in a 20-minute spell in the second half of a thrilling match at Turner's Cross last night.

The kick-off had to be delayed for 10 minutes to allow an estimated 6,500 crowd be accommodated in time for the start and they thrilled to an extraordinary contest as Cork came from two goals down, with two goals by Billy Woods and the winner from substitute James Mulligan.

Rovers played the better football in the first half and in Pat Scully they had a powerful weapon at set-pieces. Twice, he was close to scoring from Greg Costello corners, heading narrowly wide after 10 minutes and having a shot taken off the line after 30 minutes.

Rovers matched Cork in midfield where Malta international Luke Dimech was in sparkling form and wingers Stephen Grant and James Keddy kept the Cork defence stretched.

So it was no surprise when Rovers split the Cork defence with a classic move after 35 minutes. Hunt sent Tony Grant racing into the area and he stepped wide of a tackle from Alan Bennett before turning a pass inside which left Keddy with a simple task to score.

Cork were hit again immediately after the interval when Dimech found lots of space on the right wing and he showed great awareness with a pass across the penalty area which was finished in some style by Hunt on 47 minutes.

Cork were not prepared to concede and the introduction of James Mulligan as substitute in the 49th minute was hugely influential. His arrival at centre-forward enabled George O'Callaghan to drop into midfield and there was immediately a new sparkle in Cork's football. They transformed the game with three goals in that 10-minute spell.

First it was Woods with a shot from 15 yards in the 57th minute following a corner. He struck again, powering in a header from Colin O'Brien's excellent cross in the 65th minute and then Mulligan pressured Costello into a mistake on the edge of his own box before firing past O'Dowd on 67 minutes.

CORK CITY: Devine; Carey, Bennett, Cronin, Andrews (Mulligan 49); O'Brien, Reynolds, O'Halloran, Woods' O'Flynn, O'Callaghan.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: O'Dowd; Costello, Scully, Palmer, Byrne; S. Grant (Robinson 82), Colwell (Francis 82), Dimech, Keddy; Hunt (Treacy 82), T Grant.

Referee: P McKeon (Dublin).