TOP RESULTS:A 17-YEAR-OLD Killarney girl and a student at one of Kerry's top university feeder schools achieved the highest results in the country yesterday, notching up nine A1s.
Orla Houlihan, a pupil at the Intermediate School, Killorglin, got top points in the science and maths subjects, including biology, chemistry, physics, applied maths and maths, as well as in music, French, English and Irish.
The younger of two children, she expressed "shock" at her results but said she had loved every subject and had had great teachers. "I really did like all the subjects," she said. She hopes to study medicine at UCC.
A keen practitioner of Taekwondo, a Korean martial art, she also plays piano, runs and swims: "You have to take breaks." After listening to her interview on RTÉ's News at One, Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe paid tribute to Orla as "balanced, pleasant and unassuming".
The principal of her school, Kieran Griffin, said: "She has great ability and worked hard and loves learning." The school had "a culture of learning and achievement".
Two other students at the 650-pupil school achieved 600 and 590 points. A voluntary secondary school, formerly known as the Carnegie, it has always been run by lay personnel. It draws from a wide catchment area. About 100 of its students travel by bus from Killarney each day.
The school also has a strong arts and sport culture and it has been Mr Griffin's experience that a school could do both. Orla's older brother, Conor, is studying medicine at UCC. Her father Fergus is an AIB bank official and her mother Anne Marie works in an auctioneer's office in Killarney.
When Orla arrived to collect her results at 11.30am about six photographers were waiting. Her mother expressed amazement at her daughter's achievement.
Orla said later: "I didn't think I would be celebrating. I was putting off the bad news." Asked what her secret was, she said: "I listened in class and I kept up with the homework." After each paper she focused on the next.