Damien Comer has the perfect advice for Leaving Cert students all over the country

Damien Comer doesn't let anything define him.

The Galwayman didn't make the county minor team but now he's one of the most effective wrecking balls in the game. He wasn't even playing for St Jarleth's when his school made it to the Hogan Cup final in 2011 but that wouldn't be the end of him. That's because he takes things in his stride. He didn't let being passed over by his county affect him as an 18-year-old but that isn't really surprising to any of us now because just like he mans up to the challenges that full backs all over the country meet him with, it's fairly clear that it would take something special to faze Damien Comer. Free and wild, he pinballs around the full forward line like the lads tackling him are only sticks of men. He goes out on the field and the opposition team queue up for a shot at him but it doesn't matter because he'll just take them on, one by one. And his attitude on the field of play is mirrored in his attitude to life in general. A straight talker, the Annaghdown assassin isn't one to trot out the generalisations that many of his peers do. Just like he cuts through defences, he cuts through the unnecessary frills that nobody wants to hear.

"Maybe it's the system that failed me in that sense, rather than having the talent or the interest," he once said of that failure to make the Galway minor team.

The Leaving Certificate began in schools all over the country on Wednesday morning. Like many things in life, the state examination is hyped up as if it's the be-all and end-all. You can even see it in GAA clubs. Instead of lads using training sessions and games to clear their heads and to provide themselves with the perfect respite from the hours on end they spend studying, our fields are emptying because it seems like the done thing now. Whether they're encouraged by their parents to do so, or following the lead of their friends, it doesn't really matter because either way they go and feel the need to have the time anyway to lock themselves in their rooms for seven hours and bury their heads in the books until their mind actually gives up and out. On top of not needing to do that, you won't be able to do that. Give it your all but don't let it take over your life, because if you do that you're just shooting yourself in both feet anyway. On the morning of English Paper One, the NUIG student tweeted a message to Leaving Cert students all over the country, a message that should be heeded.

"Remember they are only exams," he said. "There's more to life than exams."

https://twitter.com/DamoComer/status/1004110474638708736 And he's spot on. It's all linked to the same modern hype train where everybody is led to believe that if they don't fare well here they'll be in bother. In reality, and any college student will tell you this, it takes a lot longer, and there are many other ways for people to make their own paths in life. A sheet of paper might change some things but it won't define you.