‘Everyone will tune in – she’s one of our own’: Jessie Buckley’s home town abuzz before Oscars

Excitement in Killarney will reach fever pitch on Sunday, when the actor is hotly tipped to become the first Irish woman to win best actress

If Jessie Buckley wins the Oscar for best actress on Sunday night, County Kerry will need no further proof of a cherished truism: to be born in this corner of Ireland really is the greatest gift that God can bestow. The award would be for Buckley’s performance in Hamnet, but for Killarney, her home town in the county nicknamed the Kingdom, credit will stretch back to her childhood, when she acted in local plays.

“Hollywood here we come!” proclaimed the newspaper Kerry’s Eye, underlining a sense that Buckley’s path to Hollywood for the 98th Academy Awards has been a collective journey propelled by her talent, determination and roots.

It was the writer John B Keane who, tongue in cheek, described Kerry heritage as a divine gift with “awesome responsibility” – an opinion that will appear validated if Buckley becomes the first Irish woman to win the award.

“Everyone will tune in – she’s one of our own,” said Sinead Van Bladel, a supermarket worker who had made Buckley masks for her colleagues.

Bookies rate Buckley as the runaway favourite – ahead of Rose Byrne, Emma Stone, Kate Hudson and Renate Reinsve – for her depiction of William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes Hathaway, in the film version of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel.

The only Irish women to have won acting Oscars are Brenda Fricker in 1990, for best supporting actress in My Left Foot, and Maureen O’Hara, who received an honorary Oscar in 2014.

For Buckley’s family and friends, an unspoken question haunts the excitement: what if she doesn’t win? “Oh God, the disappointment. We’d of course still be proud but can you imagine the anticlimax?” said one. She declined to be named. “I don’t want to be blamed for putting a hex on it.”

Radio Kerry offered a €1,000 (£864) prize for the most creative good luck messages, prompting a wave of songs, iced buns, plaques, poems, sand art, coffee foam and crocheted wall hangings.

A group of children with special needs each chose a word to express how Buckley made them feel. “Brave,” said one. “Inspired,” said another. “Seen,” said a third. Micheál Martin, the taoiseach, recorded a message.

The result will fuel or dampen St Patrick’s Day celebrations. If an Oscar completes Buckley’s sweep of acting awards, some in Killarney think Ireland should declare a new bank holiday. Others suggest she should receive the freedom of Kerry, plus free beer in every bar.

Well-wishers and TV crews have flocked to the Arbutus hotel, established by Buckley’s great-grandparents and still owned by the family. “It’s all go, all week,” said Denis O’Connor, a bartender. “It’s great for Kerry and great for the young – she’s a role model. For all her movies, she never forgot her roots.”

Carol Dempsey, an aunt of Buckley, said the adjacent Buckley’s bar would close to the public at 7pm on Sunday so relatives and close friends could gather inside and follow events in Los Angeles. “This isn’t a media spectacle for us,” she said. “We want to celebrate the essence of Jessie and this moment. We want to enjoy the loveliness that it is. We’re not shouters, we like to whisper.”

Dempsey said that, whether she won or lost, Buckley would continue to excel at and enjoy her craft. “Accolades are important but they’re not everything,” she said. “We have a lovely phrase that I feel really encapsulates the essence of Jessie. While many feel that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we feel that for Jessie it’s in the heart of the possessor.”

At the tourist office, Finola White, who has created a gallery of Buckley images, marvelled at a Vogue photoessay of the star in baroque outfits. “The clothes are amazing, but she still looks like Jessie.”

Siblings and parents have joined Buckley in LA. Coming from a musical family, she may have been destined for the arts, but according to local lore, a production of Jesus Christ Superstar almost sabotaged that. Aged about seven, she believed the man on the cross had died and was so distraught she was taken backstage to meet the actor.

Teachers at her school described her as “grámhar” – full of heart, always volunteering for sport, singing and dancing. Buckley performed at the local musical society, came second in a BBC talent show and trained at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, leading to TV and film roles.

John Fitzgerald, 65, sipping a pint at Buckley’s bar, said being from Kerry gave her an edge, but so, too, did dedication to her craft. “She’s been on the go for 20 years.”