Two Irish Sports Prodigies Among Those Starting Leaving Cert Exams Today

The dreaded day is here for thousands of Irish teenagers, as the Leaving Cert exams got underway on Wednesday morning.

Months and years of study have led to this day, but just about everyone sitting down in an exam hall this morning will only be dreaming of the day in just a few weeks when the state exams are all behind them.

The Leaving Cert hold a bizarrely prominent place in the Irish public psyche; we hear constant tales of the Leaving Cert weather, Leaving Cert holiday, Leaving Cert nightmare, and so on.

This year, there is an even more intriguing aspect to these exams, as two of Ireland's brightest sporting prospects, Jaden Umeh and Kobe McDonald, are among the many sitting their first Leaving Cert exams.

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On Sunday, Kobe McDonald bagged 1-4 for Mayo seniors in Clones. Today, he’ll sit the Leaving Cert at Jesus & Mary secondary school at Gortnor Abbey in Crossmolina. McDonald has his career route set out for him, at least for the next few years. After the summer, he’ll head to Melbourne to link up with AFL side St Kilda’s. When McDonald signed a contract with the club last year, it was announced he wouldn’t be heading to Australia until he finished his Leaving Cert.

McDonald has had some great success playing football with Gortnor Abbey and scored some brilliant goals.

Jaden Umeh earned his first senior cap for Ireland last Thursday. Today he sits his Leaving Cert. The young Benfica star is in the highly unusual position of taking his exam from Canada, as he’s currently in Montreal with Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side ahead of Saturday’s friendly.

Umeh had studied at the Ashton school in Cork before joining the Portuguese giants. He’s finishing his Leaving Cert with the Ashfield school in Dundrum.

The 18-year-old spoke to Balls.ie and the Irish media in the mixed zone after his Ireland debut last Thursday, and spoke of the challenges associated with sitting his state exams during his first international camp.

It's going good. Of course school is important as well, education, so I just want to get it done and over with now, have it on my profile. It will be good.

I have no clue [about the logistics]. I just have to see how it goes. But, you know, I'm ready for the challenges both on and off the field, I just give everything my 100%.

When English paper one got underway this morning, it was 4:30am in Montréal.

We understand that Umeh was supervised by a member of FAI staff and by a Canadian education official.

Umeh could win his second Ireland cap against Canada on Saturday, little more than 24 hours after completing his first round of exams.

"It would be something special, definitely," Umeh admitted last Thursday.

Umeh was part of the Ireland U17s team which reached the last 16 of last winter's World Cup, and several of his teammates from that run will also be sitting their exams this month.

We wish Jaden, Kobe, and all the Irish teenagers starting their Leaving Cert exams this morning the very best of luck.