Cork:The whoops of delight told their own story. They had been arriving from 9am at Presentation Brothers College on the Mardyke in Cork and within minutes, most were beaming as they opened their envelopes to find out just exactly how they had done.
Loic Bellettre (18) from Midleton admitted that he was fairly relaxed when he arrived. While he didn't go whooping and a-hollering on opening his results envelope, he was still pretty pleased with what the Department of Education certificate showed him.
"I got eight A1s and one A2. My A1s are in English, maths, French, German, economics, accounting, physics and history and I got the A2 in Irish, " said Loic.
His father Didier is a French lecturer in University College Cork and his mother Bláithín is a former teacher.
"I hope to do actuarial studies in UCD - it was 560 points last year, so I have enough," said Loic, a keen oarsman who rows for the school's team but took a year off to concentrate on his studies.
"I worked hard enough - I suppose you can always work harder, but I did a fair bit."
Richard McCarthy from College Road was equally pleased. The 6ft 6in U-19 Irish rugby secondrow had got 485 points - more than enough for his preferred choice of arts at UCC.
PBC principal Michael Hennessy said the school was very pleased with all the results of its 100-plus students. "We had some excellent results right across the board - our maths results and our science results were very strong.
"I know there was a lot of concern in the media about the maths papers back in June, but our maths results were very strong again this year."
At Christian Brothers College on Sidney Hill, Peter Clune, son of former lord mayor of Cork Deirdre Clune, was following in the footsteps of his older brother Rory by also obtaining maximum 600 points after getting six A1s and one B1.
"I'm delighted now, it's great," said Peter (18). " I'm hoping to do chemical and process engineering at UCC, that's the plan. It's what I've wanted to do for a good while."
Also delighted with his results was fellow CBC pupil Cian O'Leary (19) from Macroom who got six A1s and three A2s, giving him the maximum 600 points and more than enough to get a place in pharmacy in UCC.
CBC principal Dr Larry Jordan said the school had maintained its good record in maths and science subjects. "We had 130 students doing the Leaving Certificate and our maths were particularly good - we had 24 or 25 As in the higher paper," he said.
Kathleen Feeney, principal of Christ the King girls' school on the South Douglas Road, was also happy with their results.
"We had 137 students sitting the exam and the results were very good - four girls got 590 points and over 20 per cent of our students got over 500 points."
In Ballincollig, Cáit Breathnach, vice-principal of Coláiste Choilm, said the vast majority of the 184 students who sat the exam were very pleased, with their results for maths being better than the national average.
Among those getting top marks in maths was Laura Hanley (18) from Ballincollig who got six A1s, one A2 and a B.
"I worked hard, but I still didn't expect to get six A1s. I want to do the new course in architecture in UCC, so I have enough points for that, I'm delighted."
At the Ursuline convent in Blackrock, 42 girls sat the Leaving. According to principal Sr Mary McDaid, they achieved some very good results, particularly in English and French as well as in music, which was taken by more than half of the students.
Maths teacher Maureen Clarke sounded a note of caution. "We did find that students' concerns about the maths papers were reflected in their results and that is disappointing," she said.
Ms Clarke pointed out that students had put in a huge effort, staying back for extra maths tuition every Thursday over the past two years, but this was not reflected in their results. "It's the second year it happened and it's a cause for concern," she said.