Businessman and Louth GAA captain Sam Mulroy has urged students to remember that the Leaving Cert and CAO offers are not the only way forward, as he himself discovered another pathway to a career.Mulroy has reflected on how his journey through education wasn’t as straightforward as expected, in a bid to reassure any disappointed students following the issue of Round 1 CAO offers at 2pm on Wednesday.“I got 200 points in my Leaving Certificate, and still ended up with a Master’s. It doesn’t define you,” said Mulroy, who completed his Leaving Certificate in 2015 .The player, who took the county to its first All-Ireland football semi-final in almost 70 years this year, said college was never on his radar, and instead of celebrating his Leaving Certificate results on the town with friends, he went GAA training with his Naomh Mairtín club in Monasterboice, outside Drogheda.“I was amazed I passed everything to be honest, because I didn’t do any study. It wasn’t a big deal for me,” he said.Mulroy admits that through his school life, his love for GAA acted as an escape for him.“I got through school focusing on football during lunch or that evening. It was a safe space for me really. My parents weren’t happy with all the calls they got from the school, but they understood I wasn’t academic and never pushed me into anything. They have always been hugely supportive of me.[ Sam Mulroy: ‘Someone ending that cycle of Dublin winning Leinster was so, so important’Opens in new window ]“I have apologised to a lot of my teachers over the years,” he added.After school, Mulroy secured work locally in pubs, restaurants and builders’ yards and was never shy of hard work.He was asked to play GAA with DkIT (Dundalk IT), but didn’t have the points to get into the college. So he studied sports for a year as a Post Leaving Certificate course in Drogheda Institute of Further Education and a further year in Carlow IT before beginning a three-year course in Dundalk. Mulroy discovered his real passion while on a college placement at Sports Ireland Campus.Sam Mulroy studied a master's in sports management at Ulster University and started his own gym, Sam Mulroy Fitness, which now employs five people. Photograph: Sam Sanni “I was working in a gym environment there and for the first time I felt that I’d found something that brought out the best in me,” he said. This newly- found passion compelled him to take a master’s in sports management at Ulster University, along with his degree in Sports Exercise, and to start his own gym, Sam Mulroy Fitness, which now employs five people.“I left school without even filling out a CAO form and ended up with a Master’s degree, not because I suddenly became academic. I had just found something I actually cared enough about to apply myself to.[ Louth’s Sam Mulroy: ‘I hated that you’re always belittled because of where you’re from’Opens in new window ]“There may be young students out there now who are disappointed at this moment, but they need to realise that there is always a way to get there. Be positive. Commitment and hard work will always get you places.“Whether you got exactly what you hoped for, something completely different or whether, like me, you don’t even have an offer coming at all, none of those outcomes decides the rest of your life. Keep working, keep trying things and saying yes to opportunities. There isn’t one right route. Find out what brings out the best in you.”