It was the silence that was so striking. From 8 a.m. Wednesday, Leaving Cert students arrived at St Mary's Diocesan School, Drogheda, Co Louth, singly, in pairs and in groups of three or more, to collect their exam results.
They walked quietly towards the office, their faces tense, their bodies taut. They queued for their results, with barely a word between them. "You can feel the tension in the air when you come in," commented Joseph Collins, a stalwart of Droichead Youth Theatre. "I had knots in my stomach." In the event, he was pleased with his 250 points. "I'm going to do either a PLC or a FAS course," he said.
Some youngsters tore open their envelopes immediately and rushed over to the conversion chart in the hall to calculate their points. Others fingered the envelopes and peered at their names, as if to ascertain that they had been given the correct results. One or two quickly stuffed them, unopened, into their pockets and, heads bent, dashed towards the door. Most of the youngsters had taken time off from holiday jobs. Some had rushed straight from building sites, still clad in their mudencrusted working clothes.
"I was feeling worried this morning," admitted Robert McEwen. "I was quite tense. It's an eerie feeling. It's the last time I'll walk into school. You feel that your life's depending on today's results."
His foreman had given Robert the day off from a Dublin building site, and he was happy with his results. "I got 325 points - it's what I wanted. I hope to do marketing and I'll get something. I have a few options open." James Darby had done better than he had expected. "I'm not looking for points. I needed five passes to get into the course I want - the PLC in journalism at Bally fermot Senior College - and I got six."
"I'll tell you how I feel when the first-round offers come out," declared Richard Moore, who is currently working as a lifeguard in Mosney. With 390 points, he hoped he had enough for arts at UCD. Brian Hatch, with 550 points and aiming for management systems in TCD, said he felt grand. Even before he had totted up his points Eoghan Winters, too, said he was happy.
Daire Hughes was suprised by his A2 in geography. "I didn't think I did at all well in the exam and it turned out to be my best subject." He'd been given the day off from a building site to collect his 445 points. Brian Farrell, meanwhile, was going on holidays to Majorca to think about his future. He was happy enough with his results, he said, and thought he had enough points to do business. With 440 points, Michael Kilkenny thought that he might have missed science at TCD but was sure he'd get something good. Donal O'Conor did brilliantly - a B in English and a C in Irish, he said. "I only did two subjects. "Due to a long-term illness I had to give up school last October. I'm going to repeat next year - I want to do medicine - so I thought I'd get English and Irish out of the way this year." "Not too bad" was how Richard Kelly regarded his 440 points. "I'm hoping for business in UCD, but may not have enough points - but at least I won't be repeating." Kevin Bonner got what he thought he'd get - 340 points - but it still wasn't enough. "I 'd like to do quantity surveying at DIT. I can't remember my other options. I'll have to go back and check my CAO form."
Mark McGinty had thought he had done "really badly. I was very worried coming in and I certainly was nervous."
Pointing to his As in English, maths and geography, the youngster, who had obtained 520 points, commented: "There's something really weird with these results. It's totally unexpected. You don't have 20p so I can ring my mum?" Neil Gogan, who is working in a bank in Kells, Co Meath, thought he had failed geography - "the paper was crazy".. He's hoping his 465 points will gain him a place on BSS in TCD. On a day off from his job in an amusement arcade in Bettystown, Co Meath, Conor Smith reported that he was feeling relaxed now that he knew had had obtained 425 points - enough, he said, to gain him a place on any one of a number of engineering courses. Nora Grant, who was collecting her son Paul's results (he was away in Canada), said that she felt as nervous as if she had done the exams herself. John Healy, another Droichead Youth Theatre activist, announced that he would wait half-an-hour before opening his envelope: if he didn't get a college place this time, he would have to repeat in another county, since his parents were moving away. Fortunately, he had done better than he thought. With 255 points, he hoped he'd be accepted on a suitable course in Dundalk.
Neil Conlan, with 555 points, was rechecking his figures - he simply didn't believe it, he said. He was amazed by his A1 in music, which he had studied outside school. Like many boys, Ciaran Leddy remained worried. "I've got 455 points and I hope to do business and legal studies at UCD. Last year the course was 455 points, but it could go up." Back in the office, school secretary Phil Conyngham and her assistant, Siobhan Kavanagh, were feeling the worse for wear. They had both started work at 7 a.m. This year's new script-viewing application form was causing them a bit of extra work.
"The students are up to high doh and you're trying to explain to them about the form," Conyngham noted. "The pressure for the students is terrible and it's written all over their faces."
Principal Eugene Winters and his deputy John Hurley were on hand to greet and chat to students. Their day had started with a 7 a.m. trip to the post office to collect the results. Up to 80 per cent of the 127 St Mary's students who sat Leaving Cert this year were hoping to go on to third level, the principal said. "I'm confident that there's a place there for all of them this year."
