Athlone presenter 'incredibly proud' of great friend's Golden Globe success

Athlone radio presenter Cathal Murray has said he is “incredibly proud” of his great friend Cillian Murphy's success at the Golden Globes.

The Cork actor picked up the Best Actor gong for his role in Christopher Nolan's historical epic 'Oppenheimer' at the awards in the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday night.

Speaking on RTE Radio 1's 'Late Date' on Monday, the Athlone man dedicated 'Stages' by The Frank and Walters, on which the actor features, to his “very great friend”.

“I stayed up late to watch him pick up the Best Actor award and yesterday when I text him yesterday to wish him luck, he replied: “We'll see what happens”. Well Cill, it happened for ya. I'm incredibly proud of you, the whole country is proud of you, no doubt as well.”

He explained that the pair met as first years back in 1995 in University College Cork when they were both cast in the play 'Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme' by Frank McGuinness which ran for a week in The Granary Theatre.

“There were nine or ten of us in the cast and my abiding memories of it are while the rest of us were flapping around and over acting, not knowing really what to do, Cillian would always just sit or stand and never move and say his line, and I thought to myself at the time he's either really lazy or really good. We all know now how that turned out,” Cathal recalled, before quipping that his friend made a good speech at the glitzy awards ceremony, but not as good as his best man speech at the Athlone native's wedding four years ago.