There were scenes of joy, shock and squeals of happiness at a north Dublin school as dozens of Leaving Certificate students opened their results.
Many of the students of Donahies Community School said they were thrilled at their results, with the majority performing better than expected.
The teenagers gathered with anticipation outside the principal’s office well before 10am, while others accessed their results online.
Clutching the white envelopes, students gathered in huddles and pulled out the results sheet.
The well-wishes and congratulations soon spread as the hard work paid off for the students. Among them was 18-year-old Daniel Ewubare from north Dublin.
“I am over the moon and so happy,” he said.
“I feel joyful knowing the hard work paid off. Long nights until 6am paid off, so I’m very happy.
“It was 100 per cent better than I expected. I thought I would fail Irish but I passed it somehow and I passed maths. I am so happy.
“Revision was hard but I dealt with it.
“My parents will be so happy and hope to celebrate later.
“My plan is to go to college.”
Joel Heatley, 18, also from north Dublin said: “I am very happy about my results, I wasn’t expecting it to be honest. It was worth the work. The last two years was probably the biggest part of work and it definitely paid off.
“Covid affected our school work a lot. When we came back, it was a bit manic at first but we were just reminded that our Leaving Certs are ahead and we were starting there. If you do everything last minute, then it won’t be good.
“Covid didn’t help but we got back on track and as soon as we got back we were happy.
“The exams were surprising, the vibes were good as luckily, we got good weather most of the days so it set us off on a happy note before the exam.
“Some exams were trickier than others but each exam I left happy with how I got on.
“I would like to go on and do an apprenticeship. I’ve passed maths, which I was hoping for.
“We will celebrate by going out tomorrow.”
Rebecca McDermott, 18, hopes to go into primary school teaching.
“I was expecting to come in here and be upset at my results but I got what I needed in the subjects.
“I needed a H1 and I got that and am very much in shock. I thought paper 1 in Irish was okay but paper 2 was not my best day.”
She said: “I came out thinking I didn’t pass the paper at all but so happy I passed it.
“I couldn’t focus revising as we had never sat an exam. I was studying for hours on end some days and taking breaks and other days could only sit down for half an hour. I am hoping to get primary school teaching in DCU so I’ll calculate points and see.”
William Boon, 18, also from north Dublin, hopes to study journalism.
“I am so shocked – I didn’t know what I was going to get. When I went to get my results, I was still very shaky and nervous as I didn’t know how the exams went, it was hard to tell.”
He said: “I opened the page, one result at a time and thought it was good. I came out of the exams not knowing what I would get and it was so different from how I thought I would get on.
“It was our first time revising for exams because we never did a Junior Cert, but we just put the hard work in.”
Principal of Donahies Community School Peter Keoghan said it was a “super” day.
“It is a nervous time for management and teachers in the school,” he said.
“We went through the results and were absolutely thrilled with it so we have a bunch of some very happy students.
“The atmosphere is great and our hope now is that students will pass this phase in their lives and be ready to move on to the next step on the ladder.
“For us that will be another run of education and from talking to them I am confident they will go where they want to.”
He added: “It can be a tense atmosphere. I think in Irish society, the Leaving Cert has still maintained that fear factor and respect.
“The Leaving Cert is a respected exam and dispute the changes over the years, it’s still there and students know that the Leaving Cert is a stepping stone for them.”
