Daggers in the back and a poke in the eye with seven A1s

Proof that students don't forget everything once the exams are over."Is this a dagger which I see before me?"

Niamh Corbet quoted liberally from Macbeth as she held her results aloft.

"No, it's just the board of education," one of her classmates pitched in, stretching a metaphor about being "stabbed in the back" by the examiners.

"The way English was marked is a disgrace," said Corbet, from Dún Laoghaire. "I normally get B1s. But, look here, I got a D.

"It's a mockery to Irish society," said the prospective arts undergraduate, who unsurprisingly revealed that "drama" was her speciality at school.

Other students at St Andrew's College, Booterstown, Dublin, were equally emotional, if not quite so poetic. The girls hugged one another, and the boys manfully patted each other's backs as the envelopes were ripped open.

"Everyone coming out of the exams was saying it was a bad year to do the Leaving Cert," said Emma Turpin, Merrion Square, in a reference to complaints over the maths and biology papers. "But everyone here seems to be pretty happy. I got a B1 in maths, which I was really surprised by."

Adam Glynn-Finnegan was another one smiling, his lowest mark a C3 in biology which he thought had been marked "a bit easy".

On the basis of last year's entry requirements he had enough points for his first college choice, art and design at the Dún Laoghaire Institute. In the meantime he had a summer job to get back to.

"I'm into the real world already," he sighed.

As ever, those who didn't do so well didn't hang about to chat.

"It's the repeats for me," declared one such student, moving away from the crowd.

Diarmaid Ruth, in contrast, wouldn't be left alone, with everyone anxious to see his results slip announcing seven A1s.

"Are you crying?" somebody asked him.

"No, I just poked myself in the eye," he replied. "See, it all balances itself out. I might be able to do exams but then I go and do something like this."

The maximum points scorer, from Stillorgan, turned down Cambridge for UCD where he plans to study chemical engineering. Asked if he would think about taking a year off first, he replied (without a hint of irony): "No, I'm already pretty old. I'm 19.

"I don't want to be graduating too late."

As for the school, it was an emotional day, too. "It's the last time this group of students will walk down the avenue together," said deputy principal Ronnie Hay.

"A lot of them I will miss. They were a very good bunch of people, with a wide range of ability. They were very . . ."

He searched for the right word as his former charges affectionately waved goodbye.

". . . amenable."