‘She’ll get same welcome as Kerry team’, say residents after Buckley’s Oscar win

Jessie Buckley’s Oscar win has delighted people in her local county of Kerry – and is already inspiring the next generation.

The streets of the tourist town of Killarney, where she went to school, were festooned with St Patrick’s Day paraphernalia: shamrocks, tricolour bunting and green-themed window displays.

This year, the decorations also include posters of Buckley – the local star who has made history by becoming the first Irish woman to win the best actress Oscar.

Early on Monday, it appeared that amid the delight for the actress and the Buckley family, life went on as usual – tourists spilled out of shops, and locals grabbed coffees on their way to work.

As media gathered outside the family hotel Arbutus – where Buckley’s father Tim grew up and is now run by her uncle Sean – a few locals stopped to ask if the actress had won the award overnight.

One woman pulled over to ask Buckley’s cousin Brendan Fuller “how did Jessie do?”.

“She won,” the cousin replied.

“Ah great,” she said, before continuing her journey.

Sean Murphy, who runs the bar and guesthouse neighbouring the Buckleys’ hotel, proclaimed as he crossed the street: “I told you she was a dead cert!”

Many locals spoke about the town’s history of success in the film sector, which is also home to Irish-German actor Michael Fassbender – “we mustn’t forget him in the middle of all of this”, one person said, while many people also compared it with Kerry’s proud history of Gaelic football.

“Now we have the Sam Maguire” and the Oscar, one local said, while a family member joked that the Oscar was “hardly an All-Ireland in fairness”, referring to the Sam Maguire Cup that Kerry won after triumphing at last year’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Butcher Denis Cronin said that he was “delighted for Jessie herself, delighted for her family” and said it was great for Killarney.

“Whenever she comes home, there’ll be a typical Killarney welcome – she’ll get the same welcome as the Kerry team get.

“Football would be our traditional success, but we will fully embrace the acting success as well, 100%.”

For five-year-old Fiadh O’Leary, Buckley’s win is “great” and her main topic of conversation on Monday morning.

“You might be an actor yourself someday,” Mary Carmody says to her.

“Jessie was amazing, she’s so genuine in her speeches and so on, so delighted for her.”

Mary Woodcock-O’Sullivan was Buckley’s principal and class teacher when she attended Loreto National School in Killarney.

She said: “Jessie was more than willing to do everything, she took part in everything. She had a great heart, a very kind and generous heart. She gave everything 110%.”

Ms Woodcock-O’Sullivan said Buckley took part in school productions put on by the four-teacher primary school and “played on all the school teams, with the boys and the girls, nothing was a problem to her”.

Asked what Buckley’s Academy Award win would mean for young people in the town, Ms Woodcock-O’Sullivan said: “She’s a great role model for them and an inspiration for them to follow their dreams.”

She described Buckley as a “very natural, country girl and she never lost it” adding “she is beautiful inside and out”.

On Monday afternoon, the school’s current Principal Brian O’Sullivan said they are “incredibly proud” of their former pupil.

There was “great excitement” among the children in the morning when they heard the news, he said.

“Many of them already knew Jessie from films and television, so realising that she once sat in the same classrooms has been very inspiring for them.

“Teachers have been chatting with pupils about her journey and celebrating the achievement together.”

He said even as a young student she “showed the creativity, confidence and determination that have since taken her onto the world stage.

“Her success is a fantastic example to our pupils of what can be achieved through talent, hard work and belief in yourself.”

Local Susan O’Sullivan said Buckley “deserves” the Oscar win as her performance in Hamnet was “incredible”.

She said her husband had written a poem as part of a competition on the local radio station, Radio Kerry, for the best good luck tribute to the Kerrywoman ahead of the Oscars.

“It was the schools and the young people that they wanted to inspire and who obviously were inspired,” she said.

“It’s great for Killarney.”

Enda O’Mara said she knows the Buckley family from owning a shop across the road from them.

“It’s great, it’s marvellous for mna na hEireann (the women of Ireland) to have someone special like her.”

She said there would be celebrations in the town and there would be “a big deal” made of it when she returns.