Staying on the ball in run-up to exams

EXAM DIARY:Although the GAA championship season is under way, sports will have to take a back seat as studying for the Leaving Cert becomes the main priority

MY NAME is Aidan O’Shea and I will be your Leaving Cert diarist for the weeks ahead.

I must be out of my mind to take this on, as I have quite a busy schedule. Still, I thought it might be fun to put my thoughts on paper – I have no time to talk to anyone else.

From an academic point of view, things didn’t look that promising for me last September. I was on four sports teams; the under-age school football team, the Mayo under-21s football team, the Mayo seniors and my own club in Breaffy in Castlebar.

I was on the basketball team, too, but fortunately we got knocked out of the league by the Bish school in Galway. I also broke my thumb and couldn’t write for six weeks. You wouldn’t put money on me for the Leaving, now, would you?

Since then I’ve pulled it together a bit. I’ve been getting grinds in English, economics, maths and accounting and I took two weeks off from training to study.

I'll be back at training on the 9th because I have French the next day and honestly, je m'en fiche.That means I don't care – can I have marks for that?

I need somewhere between 370 and 440 points to get business in DCU, so I need to forget about football for a whole six days. I’m not the most polished writer to keep this diary, but I’ve been busy.

I have played soccer, basketball and Gaelic football at a high level. I went to the prestigious Kennedy Cup with the Mayo soccer team when I was 13 and played centre midfield in the All-Ireland semi- final. Basketball is a sport I excelled at – at the age of 10, I represented Ireland in an exhibition jamboree in Dublin with many other European countries involved. I also played in two All-Ireland schools finals in the Tallaght arena.

However, Gaelic football is my number one sport. I have played two years minor, last year reaching the All-Ireland final and receiving the man of the match award.

I played with the Mayo under 21s this year and lost out to Down in the All-Ireland semi-final. Also this year, I have got on to the senior Mayo squad and team. I scored the leveller against Dublin in the league and started in the last two rounds of the league against Galway and Tyrone, scoring a goal and a point in both games. Only last week I made my championship debut in New York, scoring a goal and three points.

Well, that’s enough about me. Oh, this is a diary, I guess it’s all about me.

I might have been man of the match in Croker, but I’m not sure I’ll be man of the exams in St Gerald’s Castlebar.

I need to pull something out of the bag, though. I want to get to DCU and study business and they won’t let me in with a top score from the championship. But it might help.

I’ve applied for a sports scholarship in DCU. I sent them a load of sports clippings, some references and a personal essay as part of my portfolio on my reasons for choosing DCU.

I really want to study in Dublin. Everyone from Castlebar goes to Galway, so you just keep meeting the same old faces. I want a new scene. If I get the scholarship, I’ll get to live on campus, use the elite gym and all sorts of things.

There’s a bit of pressure on me at home. My mother’s a teacher, so she’s all about education.

She’d like it if there was a bit more focus on exams in our house, but the conversation at the dinner table never strays too far from sports.

My sister hates it – she'd rather talk about High School Musical.

My brother Séamus is on the senior panel with me – he’s just finished his business degree in UL.

There’s not much talk of politics in our house, but I will be voting. The local Independent Frank Durkan sponsored our sports hall, but a couple of my friend’s parents are running as well.

Then there’s John O’Mahony, the team manager. He’s a TD and Fine Gael’s spokesman on sport. I’ve plenty to choose from without tuning into the national airwaves, which is just as well.

I haven't had much time for TV or anything else in the last few weeks but I have been recording Model Agent. That's a quality programme. However, I'm a bit disappointed that my girl didn't win.

One thing in my favour is my diet. I couldn’t have a healthier diet if I tried – we’re not allowed to put on weight. Got to try keep in shape for the upcoming championship, which will commence the Saturday after my last exam.

Of course booze is not allowed at all, so I’ll have to get creative with my post-exam celebrations. I’ll be back tomorrow as the clock ticks down towards English paper 1. I’m not feeling that nervous – when you’ve played in front of 84,000 people in Croker, what harm can a little book of questions do?

Aidan O'Shea is a Mayo footballer and will be writing the Irish TimesLeaving Cert exam diary