Scoil Mhuire girls, in Cork city, work hard and play hard. By 11 a.m. last Wednesday, a cheery-looking student was handing out flyers outside the school on Wellington Road advertising a "sweat and freak' to be held in a city nightclub. Some of the girls had arrived at the school as early as 8.15 a.m. They met the principal, Frank McCarthy, who handed out the results accompanied by a note congratulating each girl individually.
Paper tissues were strategically placed outside the head's office - but the only visible tears were tears of joy. Michelle Murphy, Julie Dineen and Aisling O'Sullivan hugged each other after reading their results and immediately started planning celebrations. Jean Kearney was thrilled that her daughter, Maeve, had managed to get 400 points, allowing her to study arts at UCC - despite having done "virtually no work" for the past year. Maeve had been otherwise engaged, playing the part of Mary in the television adaptation of Deirdre Purcell's novel Falling for a Dancer as well as acting in a film to be shown at the forthcoming Cork International Film Festival. "I was prepared for the worst," said Maeve, who has just returned from Paris where she was working as a waitress. "I am looking forward to joining the dramatic society in college." Another mother, Clare D'Arcy, was fretting about her twins' results. Her daughter Eva is in Greece working eight hours a day for £12. However, she should be moving up in the world having done "great" in her exams. Her brother, Patrick, who did his Leaving at Christian Brothers College, was also away waiting to hear from his mother. "I hope the brother does half as well as Eva," said Clare D'Arcy. Twelve of the 72 Leaving Certificate students at Scoil Mhuire are in Greece on holidays. Apparently, some of them are refusing to phone home to get their results in case it puts a dampener on their fun. There was no such fear in Julie Dineen's heart. She got the best results in the school - seven A1s. "I m going to do science at Oxford," she said. "I have no idea how I'll celebrate tonight but there will be plenty of alcohol involved."
Another student who is planning to go across the water to study is Holly Howe, who will be attending the London Institute to do journalism studies. "I am thrilled with my results," she said. Also going to London is Maggie O'Herlihy. She got an A1 in music and will attend the Royal College of Music. "I was up all night worrying about the results," she said. Clutching her envelope to her chest and not announcing her results to anyone was Emer Jane O'Brien. She had a mobile phone in her pocket and went out onto the street to ring her father with her news - a delighted expression on her face.
Patricia and Billy Horgan, parents of Jennifer Horgan, were also about to make a joyous phone call to their daughter in Greece. Her 520 points were almost certainly more than sufficient for studying English at UCC. "She only got a B2 in English, which is very much her thing," said her father. "We might go for a re-check on that".
Frank McCarthy said that last year, Statewide, re-checks only amounted to a quarter of the number in previous years. That, he explained, is because reviewing the exam papers was introduced last year. "On seeing their corrected scripts, the students realised that in the main, they had been marked fairly. Having said that, some of the girls were upset last year when they saw their papers. They wondered how they could have made so many mistakes."
Overall, McCarthy was satisfied with this year's results and said they were a product of a strong work ethic among the pupils. "The days of taking things easy are over. Students work hard nowadays."
