“Eachtra ghreannmhar a tharla i mo scoilse.” The title was a curve ball for many Junior Cert Irish students banking on writing a story rather than a discursive essay on paper 1.

“Most students tend to do the scéal or éachtra [incident] choice because they are good at recounting stories,” said teacher Robbie Cronin.

“However, many would have mixed the word “greannmhar “ (funny) up with “ grianmhar “ (sunny).

“Also, many students had difficulty with the word “scoilse” (school). It would have been just as easy to say scoil. Were they trying to frighten students off from doing this choice?”

Almost 30,000 take Junior Cert Irish at higher level, more than half of the cohort. That figure falls back to 20,000 at Leaving Cert.

‘Positive enough’

The higher morning exam was described as a “positive enough paper” with comprehensions on an Irish translation of JRR Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, and another on tennis ace Andy Murray.

Higher and ordinary level students also sat an aural exam yesterday. The ordinary level paper was well-received.

Only higher-level students were required to sit a second Irish paper and it was regarded as difficult this year, especially the unseen prose question which teachers and students found confusing, according to reports.

‘Background piece’

“The effort in trying to contextualise the text, by the addition of a background piece, I felt would have confused the students,” said Mr Cronin.

“I myself was confused and I had to read it a few times. That being said, the questions on the text probably made it more accessible.

“I was afraid to ask the lads how they got on in this question because I know many would have left it blank.

“I wonder, considering an extensive glossary was given for the poetry, why a glossary of difficult terms was not provided for the prose.”

A task to write a letter describing a visit to the school by a famous person was a popular choice for many students who had prepared material on the subject of Brian O’Driscoll, which was easily adapted for the theme.