ON Martin McDonagh’s fictional Inisherin, islanders got all the gossip in O’Riordan’s Post Office and shop.

But here on Achill - where Oscar fever continues to build - locals fishing for news make a beeline for Dooagh Shop.

If there’s an Oscar party happening tonight, I’ll hear about it here.

Behind the counter this weekend is 37-year-old Sarah Lavelle.

"She's the real-life Mrs O'Riordan," joke Sarah's brothers, Marty and Damien Lavelle, in for a cuppa.

Sarah returned home from traveling to mind her late mother and couldn't bear to leave Achill again so opened her shop and bakery last June. Already, it's the beating heart of the village.

She’s laughing with Mary Nally, 19, who is studying primary teaching at DCU but comes home to work here every weekend.

“I nearly knocked down Colin Farrell out on the road," Mary confesses. "There would have been no movie or Banshees' Oscars and it would have been all my fault. Imagine the story - 'local runs over movie star’."

Mary explains: “Colin and Barry stayed beside me in Dooniver and Colin used to run around the village every morning and one day he was running on the wrong side of the road. My nanny Kathleen and mammy were in the back and he came behind a pole and I had to brake fast. I didn’t cop who it was and I just said – ‘Oh God I'm sorry!’ My mammy said it was him from the film. He was so sound about it - all of them were lovely.”

Banshees’ most famous extra, Lisa Cattigan – who stars in the film’s trailer sitting next to Brendan Gleeson’s Colm in Devines’ pub – drops into the shop, where her twin sister Laura also works, to chat about pub plans.

There’s talk about Sky and the BBC coming for Oscar night, and Lisa and a bunch of extras’ have an interview in the shop with iRadio today. The Extras Whatsapp group pings with Banshee-related TV clips and messages from people like Karl McCloskey, who tells the group he will watch the awards with family in London while Pat Hughes plans to tune in from Kota Kinabalu in Borneo, Malaysia.

But while Banshees' extras were visibly gripped by Oscar fever, locals who weren't involved were keeping quiet this weekend.

“Paddy’s Day is a huge homecoming for our diaspora – it’s bigger than Christmas in some families and people come home from all over the world,” Sarah explains of next weekend’s St Patrick’s Day party, the island's yearly highlight, when five pipe bands march through Achill's villages from 6am until night, as part of a tradition that goes back 140 years.

“Achill will be a different place next weekend. People are at band practice now or saving the pennies to blow out next week. Everyone comes out. All the bunting and flags will be going up during the week. People sacrifice Christmas and Easter to come home once a year for this. ”

Down in Gielty's Pub, landlord Alan plans to show The Banshees of Inisherin at 9.30pm tonight to get people in the mood for the Oscars, streaming at 3am Irish-time.

Alan Gielty - who was given the original O'Riordan's shop front by the film crew after they dismantled it at Purteen Pier - had invited a few of us aboard his Banshees Bus to visit film locations, but he had to cancel.

His Banshee “wrap” design featuring the stars will go around his 37-seater coach but he’s asked designer Louise McGinty to hold off until after the Oscars. “If we win, I’ll be adding a few golden Oscars statues to the bus,” says Alan, who launches his Banshee Tours on Easter Monday.

“I’m getting emails every day – 12 people booked in already - one guy and his wife are flying to the Aran Islands then wants me to give them a private tour of the Banshees before he flies out.“

He continues: “It’s very quiet today and we'll see who'll be in to watch the film - we’ve the pipe bands on Paddy’s Day but this summer is going to be very busy in all the restaurants and bars. The film brought a lot of money into the economy. Now I can see the impact of it already - we’re up 50 per cent on last year. Every weekend, we’ve people arriving to see the Banshees’ sites.”

Alan's imitation plastic Oscars sit behind the bar, used by Banshees crew as a base while filming at Purteen and Keem Beach.

But he confirms there’ll be no Oscars streaming party after midnight tonight.

“I wish I applied for a late license for the Oscars but then again, the extension only goes to 2.30am and the Oscars would still be on when it’s time for people to leave,” says Alan. “We’d love to watch it live but we can’t show it as people have to be off the premises after midnight but we’ll get them in the humour anyway. We'll get the buzz going before they go home to watch it.

“Oh, and we’ll have finger food,” he laughs.