At the foot of Mangerton Mountain outside Killarney, every lamp-post and shop window bears the image of Oscar nominee and local hero Jessie Buckley.
A sign wishing the best of luck “from Jessie’s friends and neighbours” sits on the Co Kerry mountainside where she grew up.
Not so long ago, a young Jessie was regularly seen on the road skirting the woods of Killarney National Park to the foot of Mangerton, where she still likes to occasionally climb.
On the weekend of the Academy Awards, the whole town is holding its breath, certain of her pending win.
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Jessie is nominated in the best actress category for her role as Agnes Hathaway in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. It would be the first time an Irish woman won best actress.
In BoyleSports on New Street, however, nobody was placing bets Jessie would take home the Oscar.
“There’s not much point,” a staff member explained – Jessie was 1 to 100, meaning punters would have to place €100 to win a single euro back in the event of victory.
Could a person place a bet she wouldn’t win? “We don’t do negative bets.”
Out on the street, not only was Jessie’s image eclipsing the green shamrocks and flower filled streets on a bright St Patrick’s Festival Saturday, the talk in the cafes was of the coming ceremony.
“She has to win,” one customer remarked.
Her picture, decorated with shamrocks, and shop window posters declaring “Sam’s Home, Oscar is on the way” set the local tone.
An image of the 36-year-old actor – dressed in green – has been incorporated on to St Patrick’s Day posters for the festival which traditionally kicks off the tourist season in her native town.
“We are so proud of her. She has remained the Jessie we know and love,” her first cousin Brendan Fuller, a radio presenter and DJ, said. The mayor of Killarney, Martin Grady, has wished her every success and says the town is firmly behind her.
Scoil Bhríde Loreto, Jessie’s primary school, released a video and put together a Jessie timeline of her life, from Kerry daughter to Hollywood star.
“The kids are able to go through the timeline. Jessie is a massive role model for all the kids. Lots of them are in drama school,” noted teacher Padraig O’Sullivan.
“We are hoping and rooting for her that she wins the Oscar and we’re all very proud of her here in Killarney.”
The material displayed in the room will be kept in a scrapbook. Looking through her time at Scoil Bhríde, Jessie had shown a great interest in acting and playing the harp, O’Sullivan said.
Killarney Musical Society, where she strutted her stuff first, has huge billboards erected to wish her luck. Businesses across the town have united to show their pride with several long-established family-run shops on High Street decorating their windows with giant flags and messages of luck.
Jessie’s family – her uncle and godfather Sean and his wife Carol – run the Buckley family Arbutus Hotel in the heart of the town. It has a photograph of Jessie on the front of the building in honour of her achievements.
Established in 1926 by her great-grandfather Tim Buckley, a returned emigrant from New York, the hotel and bar will be the focus of attention in the early hours of Monday morning, where the ceremony will be broadcast live on TV.
On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs programme last Sunday, Jessie spoke of her father Tim’s poetry and how often he would send her a verse. Her choice of book, she told the host, was a bound collection of “every single poem” her father had ever written.
This weekend on Radio Kerry, Tim said, win or lose, “Jessie has already finished in glory as far as we’re concerned”.
