Points aplenty at Ashbourne, Rath Carn and Dunboyne

There was great excitement outside Ashbourne Community School on Wednesday morning as teenagers quickly totted up their results to see if they had achieved the points for the courses they wanted. Most were very happy with their results and among the smiling faces were those of twins, Scott and Ryan Fitzsimons, who had both got what they wanted. Scott managed a very good 470 points and now hopes to study architecture. Celebrating with him, was his twin, Ryan, who at 480 points had enough points for his chosen course of engineering, in either UCD or Trinity. The Deputy Head Boy, Stephen ' Brien, was 'very nervous' travelling to the school in the car that morning but was thrilled to discover he had 490 points - enough to study engineering in DIT, which was his first choice. Despite Ann Curley"s excellent 430 points, she was planning to have a re-check done as she felt she had done better. She is hoping to study accountancy and finance, but she was happy on Wednesday to have 'had it all over'. Lynne Bracken was absolutely thrilled with her distintion in the Leaving Certificate Applied. 'I am hoping to go to Cathal Brugha Street to train to be a chef and now I"m on my way,' she said. Anna ' Driscoll said she would be partying that night, as she, too, had received a distinction and would be going to college to study travel and tourism. Principal, Áine O"Sullivan, was delighted with the results and said students 'seemed to be pleased and have got what they wanted'. 'Our greatest concern is that it is still very much a points race. The calculators were out as the students added up their points and they will be considering their offers and courses over the next while,' she said. She said that one Lithuanian student in the school had received 'A1"s in music and Russian. Over at St Peter"s College, Dunboyne, there was also great excitement as the 140 Leaving Certificate students and 15 Leaving Applied students got their results. Katie Timoney of the Fairyhouse Road had achieved a whopping 560 points and was hoping to study pharmacy in Trinity College. 'Oh my God, I don"t believe,' she said. 'I was sitting in the car on the way up here shaking.' Carmel Clarke was not shaking, however, she was delighted with her 385 points and said she hadn"t been nervous. 'I slept all night,' she said. Carmel is hoping to study English in the Mater Dei Institute. Kate Quigley of Dunboyne was another high achiever with 525 points. 'Much better than I expected. I"m thrilled,' she said. 'I was a bit nervous, but there was no point worrying about it,' she said. She is now hoping to study Arts and Creative Writing in Galway. Laura Carolan was delighted with her 305 points, including 'A"s in business and biology. 'I am hoping to do disability nursing in DCU, so I will be waiting to see if I get an offer,' she said. Craig McDonnell was doing his maths to see if he managed to get into science in Trinity. At 425 points, he wasn"t certain he would get in, but with an additional 50 being accepted onto the course, he believed he might get there. 'If not, I will go to Maynooth,' he said. Catherine Bury was celebrating her 470 points. She is hoping to study archaeology and geology in UCD. 'I don"t know what the points are yet because it is a new course,' she said. Principal Eamonn Gaffney was pleased with this years results. 'Everybody is very happy. There were a lot who got over 500 points and everybody seems to have got the points for what they want,' he said. 'If their Leaving Cert achieves what they want to get, that is all that matters,' he said. Macdara ' Duillearga, Principal of Coláiste Pobail, Rath Carn, the Gaeltacht school where 24 students sat the Leaving Certificate, was also very pleased with the results. Despite the fact that students had a difficult two years with the deaths of two of their classmates, they all did very well. He said the big success story was English - of the 12 who sat the higher-level paper, all got honours and three received 'A"s. More than half the students achieved 300 points, or higher, and most students got what they wanted.