I was just thinking it is 30 years since I started college. Thirty! And I keep thinking I’m but a young chap. I wore a suit, shirt and tie the first day. That was me in those days, a little auld lad. Today, working from home, I get up every morning and put on running gear to entice me to go for a run even if I’m feeling lazy. And then I’ll throw on a T-shirt and jeans when I get back.

At 17 and a half, I was the youngest in the broadcasting and journalism skills class

Ballyfermot Senior College was a short enough bus journey for me. At 17 and a half, I was the youngest in the broadcasting and journalism skills class. We were the ones who didn’t get enough points for the only other journalism course in Rathmines which required top marks to secure a spot. So I was among equals. This was a real rite of passage. No uniform required and girls in the class, but there was a decision to be made first.

I had been offered a job a few weeks earlier by Captain Jim Kelly, he of the arms trial fame. Captain Kelly had bought the now-defunct Cavan Leader in a sort of fire sale. I had spent two summers on work experience there thanks to the late great Eugene McGee who owned the title.

Up until my daughter got her “Leaving Cert” results a few weeks ago and explained the points system to me, I had no notion of how it works these days. But back in 1990, I did alright, but not alright enough to get into Rathmines. So I applied to get into Ballyfermot and was invited to an interview.

the course co-ordinator Brenda Hartnett interviewed me. She wasn’t so much interested in my Leaving Cert results but my aptitude for journalism

My mother drove me there and waited outside in the car park. I had a portfolio under my oxter with cuttings from two summers’ work in the Cavan Leader – match reports and the like.

The course co-ordinator Brenda Hartnett interviewed me. She wasn’t so much interested in my Leaving Cert results but my aptitude for journalism. So I whipped out the paper cuttings and with that, I was in. It was then I realised that the Leaving Cert had been all to do about nothing really. So I skipped out to the car to tell my mother I had been accepted into college. I could tear up the CAO offers for courses I can’t for the life of me remember why I’d applied for. Anyway, Captain Kelly wanted to see me. So I went to Cavan to meet him and he offered me a full-time job for the princely sum on £100 a week. In 1990 it wasn’t to be sneezed at.

Sports broadcasters Justin Treacy and Ryle Nugent were in my class and many others have also gone on to pursue successful careers sprinkled across the media landscape

I thought about it, but decided I’d be better going to college rather than beginning life as a full-time tax payer at aged 17 and a half. I enjoyed two glorious years in Ballyer. I remember the novelty of sharing a classroom with girls having spent five years in an all-boys’ Christian Brothers school. And to this day, three of those girls remain close friends. Sports broadcasters Justin Treacy and Ryle Nugent were in my class and many others have also gone on to pursue successful careers sprinkled across the media landscape. Justin and I became good friends and thumbed a lift together to the 1991 Rose of Tralee and got most of the way there in the cab of a lorry. Happy times!

Turning down the job offer from Captain Kelly 30 years ago this week might have been the best decision I ever made, aged 17 and a half.

Adding insult to injury

As if things were not bad enough, it’s angering and depressing to see anti-mask protestors polluting the streets with their vile and demented views. None of us like wearing masks but don’t give in to these chancers who have other motives in play.