Oscar or Sam Maguire? Paul Mescal on choosing between All-Ireland glory or Hollywood honour

Paul Mescal revealed that winning an Oscar would “be great” but leading Kildare to an All-Ireland win would be “the most incredible” thing.

The Hollywood superstar, 28, returned home earlier this week as the Irish premiere for his new film Gladiator 2 took place at Dublin's Lighthouse Cinema on Thursday. He was catapulted into superstardom after starring in the hit series Normal People, and last year was nominated for Best Actor in the Academy Awards for his starring role in Aftersun.

However, the A-lister says he will always have a grá for GAA and he had quite the career in the amateur sport. In 2014, Paul captained his native Kildare in the Leinster minor football final against Dublin.

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Speaking to Today FM’s Dave Moore, the Normal People star squirmed and said “Don’t do this to me” when he was asked if he would rather win an Oscar or lift the Sam Maguire.

However, he partly answered the question, saying: "Can you imagine what would happen in Kildare if we won? It would be the most incredible...up the Lillies! I think honestly like that, to go up Hogan Stand and stand up like that would be pretty special.

“An Oscar would be great too! I tried to make them both work out (acting and playing GAA) but a broken jaw is a great leveler." The Hollywood superstar previously revealed that he had to quit GAA to pursue his acting career.

While in drama school, he broke his jaw playing GAA, despite strict guidelines from his teachers that sport was not allowed in case injuries occurred. Paul sustained the horrific injury in a match just a few days before his final year and decided then that he couldn’t continue to juggle them both.

Hundreds of fans stood outside The Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin on Thursday to catch a glimpse of Paul at the Gladiator 2 premiere. Speaking on Today FM, the actor said when driving up to the red carpet, he couldn’t believe the noise of the fans, and he was so moved that so many turned up.

He said: “I haven't done a press tour like this before. You kind of lose track of all the individual moments. Like landing in Dublin, what, two days ago? Then when you're in the car on the way to the premiere, we can hear the noise as you're kind of turning up the street.

“I turned to my friend Ellie, I was like, 'What is going on?' Because you don't assume that people are going to come out. I was like honestly really quite moved by the whole thing. I think I was on the red carpet and I wasn't even sure what words I was saying."

Despite his superstardom, the 28-year-old said he still becomes overwhelmed by this outpouring of love. He added: "I think the word overwhelmed is true, but I'd rather be that than comfortable with this because I think the minute you become comfortable with it, it becomes less exciting.

“If this was normal then what's extraordinary? So I think if there are moments in this that are overwhelming, I feel like that's part of the course. But I've also got, not just my family, but an amazing group of people around me that have been around me for five or six years that make it all feel more comfortable."

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