You're our Os-kerr' winner, Jess!

Killarney bustling with excitement before Hamnet star's bid for movie immortality

- BY SAM HALL

JESSIE Buckley's picturesque hometown was brimming with pride for the star ahead of Oscars night.

The 36-year-old has bagged a Golden Globe and BAFTA for her role as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet and bookies had her as favourite to complete the set of the prestigious gongs at the 98th Academy Awards.

In her native Killarney, Co Kerry, a tourist town already bustling with visitors ahead of St Patrick's Day tomorrow, the celebrations have already begun.

Flags in the Kerry colours adorned with Buckley's face and posters wishing her luck were hanging in shop windows, while banners advertising the town's St Patrick's Day parade feature the star draped in a green cloak.

Cronin's butcher's declares "Sam's home, Oscar is on the way", referring to the Sam Maguire, the All-Ireland trophy the Kingdom's footballers won last year.

Denis Cronin, of Cronin's butchers, said: "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.

"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.