DUE to circumstances beyond its control, Moyle Park went into yesterday's Coca Cola sponsored Leinster Schools' Senior Cup (Section A) meeting with Mount Temple, at King's Hospital, without a single preparation match. In truth, this was apparent from the start.

The better organisation and basic skills of Mount Temple showed up most glaringly in the forward exchanges. The strong driving of Gareth Kelly, Con McMahon and Danny Kennedy was ably supported by the rest of the pack.

In contrast, Moyle Park displayed a naivety in their play that cannot be solely put down to lack of match practice. When in possession they struggled to recycle hard won ball. The forwards attempted to move mauls on from an upright stance, while the backs - rarely, tackled below the hip. This made Mount Temple's task much easier.

Both sides took to the field without numbered jerseys. Of course, this made the identification of players a nightmare, although a few of the Moyle boys may not have been too put out by this shortcoming.

That aside, Moyle Park had tireless workers in abundance, with John Stapleton, Brian McKenna and Ray Kelly thriving on the hefty workload in the tight, and backs Paul Caffery and Gavin Lawlor running powerfully. Lawlor cut the winner's defence to ribbons on a weaving run that took him all of 45 metres for Moyle's only try after 62 minutes.

Safe in the knowledge that a whitewash had been averted, full back Conor Dardis converted from under the posts to make the score 45-7.

By this time Mount Temple had bagged seven tries from Paddy Delaney (2), McMahon, Philip Egan, Niall O'Carroll, Garreth Kelly and the most talented player on view Mark Adams.

Earlier, Adams had snapped up the opportunity to take a first minute drop goal from broken play. It showed that he was tuned into proceedings from the off and that he could think quickly on his feet.

Even after Lawlor's try, the Temple players could have been forgiven for letting their thoughts drift to next Wednesday's stern second round engagement with Presentation Glasthule. Not a bit of it. Centre David Hancock piled on further agony with a brace of tries late on.