Verdict: Leaving Cert Irish - paper IIYesterday's Leaving Certificate Irish second paper at higher level held few surprises for students, although many were exhausted after finishing the 3½-hour exam.

At this level, the second paper counts for nearly a quarter of the total marks, illustrating its importance to those students aiming for high marks.

The paper, which focused on poetry, literature and the history of Irish literature, was generally welcomed by teachers, with most confident that the topics they had predicted to appear had done so.

"Students felt it was a do-able paper . . . There was plenty of scope to talk about things," said Ms Máire Ní Laoire, president of the Association for Teachers of Irish. "There was a fair bit of reading and a lot of writing to do, however, so nearly all students stayed in until the very end."

"I thought it was a very fair paper," said Mr Robbie Cronin, ASTI subject representative. "Anybody who had done any study would have done well."

While he felt some of the questions were "very laboured", Mr Cronin said his students thought the paper overall was "very good."

"My students came out very tired from the exam," he said. "There was a lot of writing, but that's no different from any other year."

"The overall feeling was that students were quite pleased," agreed Ms Yvonne O'Toole, skoool.ie expert and a teacher at Hooy Faith Convent, Clontarf. "What was on was what was expected, so there were no surprises."

Some of the questions within the poems were "tricky", she said. This included questions accompanying An Triail, a play about the Magdalene laundries which is a popular choice for students.

However, most of her students were happy with the section, she added.

"If somebody found yesterday's paper difficult, they would have been given a new lease of life by paper two," she said. "Even the weaker students could make a good stab at it. It was challenging but fine . . . I really couldn't find anything major wrong with it."

At ordinary level, there was widespread satisfaction among teachers that the predicted topics appeared on this year's paper.

"Paper two at this level [which is worth about 20 per cent of the total marks] did have the reputation that students weren't attempting it, but in recent years this is changing," said Ms Ní Laoire.

"The literature is more relevant to students at this level, so they can relate to them.

"I would say an attempt is being made to make paper two more accessible and relevant to students at that level."

"It was an excellent paper, I'd even say fabulous," said Mr Cronin. "The questions were fair, and even the weaker lads were able to write something. From my perspective, there was no excuse for them not to have done well."