I sat the Leaving Certificate in June 1981. I don’t remember much about it other than I am sure I was very nervous, since that would be my default setting for all exams! In my mind’s eye, I can see hands going up looking for an extra answer sheet whilst mine was less than a quarter filled and the empty page looked up at me, as much as to say, “I bet now you wish you had listened more, studied harder and watched less Hawaii Five-0.” So much for ‘Book him Dano’, as John Donne needed exploration and response, Peig’s wearied tones were lost in a haze or bizarre maths questions were miles from a ‘Q.E.D.’ Even now, I feel a little queasy!
A few years ago, we had a Class Reunion to mark the forty years since we left St Nathy’s College in Ballaghaderreen. It was more than forty years, as Covid disrupted our plans for a 2021 gathering. Mention was made, somewhere along the way, about our Leaving Cert and I mentioned that the results were late coming out that year. Nobody else seemed to remember that but I felt sure it was the case. I wondered why nobody else remembered. As I sit to write these lines, I Google “Were Leaving Cert Results delayed in 1981?” And the reply is instant: “Yes, Leaving Certificate results were delayed significantly in 1981, not coming out until September rather than the usual mid-August timeframe.” The reason was a Teachers’ Strike.
As I sat the exams, I knew I wanted to go to Maynooth and, in the weeks that followed I had been in touch with the bishop, got references from my local Parish Priest and the President of St Nathy’s and had been accepted to go to Maynooth. My results would hopefully make that possible. On Sunday, September 13, I found myself in Maynooth without results – you could say I was ‘Resultless in Maynooth’!! We were about two weeks there when the results came out and I remember my brother ringing me to tell me how I had got on. I was happy but broke no records. My Maynooth journey continued.
I am reminded of those results in these days when so many young people are planning their future, based on results received in recent days. I imagine some very happy students, some disappointed ones and many somewhere in between. Likewise, parents and families and perhaps even teachers. It is a stressful time, and we all try to be supportive and encouraging. A less than helpful question might be: “How did the Leaving Cert go?”
All these years later, I cannot recall anyone asking me how I got on and, if they did, I am not sure I could give a detailed answer, other than “I did okay”. Hopefully all the Leaving Cert pupils of 2026 will do okay as well. Okay, and better than okay, not just in the exams but in life. If they find peace, walk in honesty and seek to make a difference, the points being counted and re-counted will become a distant memory but the lives they lead will be their legacy and greatest achievement.
We wish them well. We thank their teachers, classmates and friends who have journeyed with them through their secondary school years. We give credit to their parents and families who have been there for them always and continue to be. We give thanks for themselves – for they are the youth of our time and the future of our country. May they live life in such a way that they may look back on it with gratitude and from a place of faith.
To any Leaving Cert student who might happen on these words, don’t wait forty years to acknowledge these days, the friendships made, and the lessons learnt. Whatever the road brings, know that you are ready.
