Top marks for St Gerald’s quartet

Top marks for St Gerald’s quartet as boys make their mark in St Brendan’s


Anton McNulty

Having one student in your school achieve top marks is something to shout about. But having four? Well it is fair to say St Gerald’s College in Castlebar have plenty to gloat about so.
James Sweeney, Rory Walsh, Paul Regan and Des Conlon all claimed the maximum 600 points in last Wednesday’s Leaving Cert results.
In fact Sweeney, Walsh and Regan all claimed seven A grades and all four had no concern with not getting their first choice when the CAO offers were made yesterday (Monday).
SeΡn Burke, principal of St Gerald’s, said they were very happy with this year’s results and congratulated the four boys on achieving top marks.
“Overall we are very happy with the results and they show that those who worked hard got what they wanted. Across the board we are very happy with all the subjects and at the end of the day those guys who worked hard for the last two years got what they wanted,” he said.
For the last number of years, the number of girls out-performing boys in the Leaving Cert has continued to rise but Sabina Munnelly, the principal of St Brendan’s College in Belmullet, feels that boys are starting to put the head down and study.
“Boys came up this year in the grades when it is usually the girls who are out-performing them. A lot of them did the Transition Year and they seem to have matured a lot in that year. The Leaving Cert did come too soon for a lot of boys but Transition Year is a huge boost for them as they are that bit more mature when it comes to exams,” she said.
Sabina was very happy with the results this year with one student getting 565 points - the highest for the year - and a number of others getting over 500 points. She added that she was very pleased for some of the weaker students who she said had ‘made up a lot of ground’. The acting principal of Our Lady’s Secondary School, Josephine Moran said they were extremely happy with their results and said ‘quite a few’ had received over 500 points. Sixty-one students received their Leaving Cert in Our Lady’s including Leaving Cert Applied students who she said had done very well.
Jason Mangan, the principal of ColΡiste ChomΡin in Rossport, said they were all very happy with the results and added it was good to see the students happy with themselves.
In Achill it was a quiet year for results because there was no Leaving Cert class in McHale College due to the introduction of Transition Year two years ago. Across the fence in Scoil Damhnait, 20 students were receiving their results and according to teacher, Sheila McHugh, there was plenty of happy faces.
She said the performance in Maths and Science was excellent and said the students were happy with their results.