‘She’s already a winner’: Kerry town beams with pride for Jessie Buckley

Jessie Buckley’s picturesque Co Kerry home town was brimming with pride for the local star ahead of Oscars night.

The 36-year-old has bagged several significant awards for her role as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet, making her possible win for best actress seem a daringly sure thing at the 98th Academy Awards.

In Killarney, a tourist town already bustling with visitors ahead of St Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, the celebrations have already begun.

Flags in the Kerry colours with Buckley on them and posters wishing her luck hang in shop windows, while banners advertising the town’s St Patrick’s Day parade feature Buckley in a green coat.

At the Arbutus Hotel, where Jessie’s father Tim grew up and which is run by her uncle Sean, the adjoining bar closed early to allow friends and family to watch the ceremony in private.

Buckley’s parents Tim and Marina and her sister, Lily, will be attending the Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Denis O’Connor, a barman at Buckley’s Bar, said Jessie Buckley’s Oscars moment was “18 years in the making” from when she appeared on the BBC show I’d Do Anything.

“The whole town is apprehensive but the whole town is very proud. Kerry is proud, the whole country is proud,” he told the Press Association.

“Everyone is so happy, she’s a winner already.”

Sean Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Guesthouse which is next door to the Arbutus, said he organised Jessie’s homecoming for her return from I’d Do Anything.

Asked if he would be organising another homecoming, he said he would wait to see if she wins but described her performance in Hamnet as “incredible”.

“It’s a lovely story, her acceptance speeches were so good, where she said ‘up Kerry’.”

Down in the town, a poster in Cronin’s butcher’s declares “Sam’s home, Oscar is on the way”, referring to the Sam Maguire Cup, the trophy in the Gaelic football championship, which Kerry won last year.

Denis Cronin, of Cronin’s butchers, said they always have a flag up for the football championship, but the Oscars are “the next best thing”.

“The buzz is good, she’s local, she’s from a local family, her grandmother would have owned the Arbutus Hotel, the family still own it,” he told the Press Association.

“We would have delivered to her grandmother 40 years ago, and her father as well.

“She started out the same as every child, her thing was acting, the next person’s thing is football, but she’s hopefully come to the top of her acting career, thanks be to god.

“It will be fantastic for the town if she wins, there will be a good celebration, it will make for a good Patrick’s Day in Killarney.

“Congratulations to Jessie and her family.”

At The Dungeon Bookshop, which claims to be Kerry’s largest second-hand bookstore, a poster wishing Buckley luck hangs in the window, and the front page of the local paper, Kerry’s Eye, says “Hollywood, Here We Come!”

Maggie O’Connor, who works at the store located across the road from the Buckleys’ hotel and bar, said the success of the local woman was “amazing”.

“It’s great to see someone get out and do so brilliantly, between all the awards she won,” she said.

“It would be amazing now for the town if she won, well for herself really, it’s the biggest achievement you’ll ever get.

“It is great to see someone with all this fame, but they’re so down to earth that there’s no glitz and glam.

“It’s just ‘look, I’m a girl from Killarney town from Kerry, that’s who I’m going to be, that’s who I’m always going to be and I’m not going to be any different’.”

She said even if she does not win the Oscar, the town is proud of her achievements.

“Oh definitely, even to get the nomination for the award is better than winning the All-Ireland. Sure, how many people in Ireland can say they’ve gotten a nomination for an Oscar?

“You couldn’t ask for any more excitement in the town than that.”

Hazel O’Malley from Hazel’s Nuts About Vintage said it was “really exciting” for Killarney.

“We’ve a long history with film, going back to the O’Kalem films and we’ve had lots of people involved in filmmaking.

“It’s really exciting that someone can just go for it and go for their dreams and get to Oscar level. It’s amazing.”

On a shelf in her shop, she has cards of film stars and musicians dressed as saints, including one of Buckley’s co-star in Hamnet, Paul Mescal.

“We need to get an upgrade and add her to our All Saints!” she says of Buckley.

Ms O’Malley said Killarney, which is also where German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender grew up, inspires creativity.

“It’s a town that’s always had people coming in visiting and coming in from outside, so you feel you can do anything because the world has come to us, so we can go to the world.

“We’re in the middle of the national park, which is wild and free and it stirs your creativity to think bigger.”

She said whether Buckley wins on Oscars night did not matter to locals.

“She’s a winner anyway – it’s amazing what she’s done for the town and the lift she’s given.”

Irish premier Micheal Martin, who is in the US for a number of high-profile diplomatic engagements, took the time on Sunday to wish Buckley luck this St Patrick’s Day weekend.

“We wish Jessie Buckley every success this evening at the Oscars, which would really cap off a great week for the Irish and for Ireland,” he said at the Philadelphia parade.

Ireland’s deputy premier Simon Harris, who is in London for St Patrick’s Day celebrations, said Buckley is an “extraordinary actress”.

“I know in every part of Ireland, perhaps most particularly in Kerry, people would have everything crossed for Jessie this evening,” he told reporters.

“We are all really rooting for it tonight to bring that Oscar home.

“I want to wish Jessie and all her family every good luck tonight.”