The silence was broken only by sniffs and stifled sobs. For the class of 2023, this weekend should be one of excitement and celebration. Instead, they are spending it steeped in sadness.
The group returned to Loreto College in Clonmel this morning for a small and intimate service to pay tribute to their classmate Nicole Murphy, who died along with three others on Leaving Cert results night in the town.
A group who should be celebrating the next chapter of their lives, returned to the rooms in which they had spent the past six years to be together in their time of grief.
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Principal Anne McGrath said the unity that the year group had displayed in the last 48 hours could not happen without it already existing.
She said the former sixth years had created that bond, along with the teachers in the school and the community.
The way that they cared for each other would be vital, she said, to carry them all through the days and weeks ahead.
Ms McGrath told the group that if they needed hugs or a place to go during their grief that the school doors were always open to them.
She read the poem 'Footprints in the Sand' and a number of other teachers read prayers in the short but solemn service, which had a circle of candles and photos of the four deceased at its centre.
At the Presentation College in the town, where Grace McSweeney and Zoey Coffey attended, a similar service was held for students.
On Wednesday, this group will get a glimpse of what their future holds when they receive their CAO offers for college places.
But they will also be preparing to attend the funeral services of the friends whose futures have so tragically been cut short.
