Pictures show three years of achievement awards for St Mary’s Diocesan School in Drogheda

The St Mary’s Diocesan School. students who achieved excellence in the State Exams – Leaving Cert 2020, 2021 and 2022 along with the Junior Cycle 2022, were finally able to receive their plaudits and were invited to a celebration of their successes on Friday the 20th of January in the school.

The young men and their families were congratulated on their fantastic performance and praised for all their hard work and diligence especially in the turbulent COVID times they all faced.

The evening began with the awards for the Junior Cycle class of 2022 and the students were encouraged to make it their aim, through continued focus on their studies and hard work, to be invited to return to the ceremony after they sat their own leaving Leaving Certificates.

The recipients of the awards for best JCPAs were Brendan Christofides, Sam Heeney, John Lee, Richard Picar, Caelan Quinn and Daniel Weir.

The best overall Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement was awarded jointly to Shariq Ibad and Alex Leonard.

The evening then moved to the Leaving certificate classes or 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Leaving Certificate 2020 was based on estimated grades and the students with the best

grades that year were Scott Brady and Sean Rath.

The top student from that year was Conor Woods. It was then the turn of the Leaving Certificate class of 2021 which offer a hybrid model that year. The students who received the best grades that year were Dylan Cromwell and Evan Kelly.

The best Overall Leaving Cert awarded in 2021 was to Matthew Weir. Matthew and Mr. Giblin then posed for another photo with Daniel Weir who along with being one of the highest achievers in the ‘22 JCPA also won the Jim Brady award for Best Technology Student, a title his big brother had also been awarded in previous years.

The evening finished with Leaving Certificate 2022, which returned to the traditional school categories for acknowledging specific subjects as well as best points and top LC and the

principals award for altruism.

The awards for the class of 22 were presented to:

The Martin Kilkelly Memorial Award (Geography) Liam Gaffney, The Frank Murtagh Memorial Award (Construction Studies) Conor Stafford, The Martin Keaveney Memorial Award (Gaeilge) Oisín Murphy, The Eugene Winters Award for Mathematical Science (Math) Dylan Byrne, The Peter McInerney Award for English (English) Luke Harrison, The Dolores Mullens Award for Art (Art) Ruairí Talbot, The Pat Colgan Award for History (History) Mark O’Malley , The Parents Council Award (European Languages) Alan Bowden, The Principals Award (Non-Subject) Sam Cunningham , Excellent Grades/ Highest Points Andy O’Neill Eoghan Devine.

The evening culminated with the Fr Gerry Rice Memorial Award for Highest Academic Achievement in the Leaving Certificate which was presented to Max Russell.

“It was wonderful to recognise the achievements of these lovely young men and to once again be able to celebrate in person as community together,” commented Deputy Principal Ms Catherina McNicholas. “Thank you to Ms Orla McEntee for organising and preparing the evening and to the parents council for supporting the occasion and providing refreshments”.