Winning! The Irish are all set to take CENTRE stage at the Oscars

Awards season has been fun you guys, but it all culminates this Sunday with the 88th Academy Awards taking place in Los Angeles.

And of course we Irish have a lot to be proud of as we see some of our top talent raking in the nominations with a total of nine chances at a win. 

So whether we get the gongs this weekend or not, we already feel like winners. 

Two Irish-directed films, Brooklyn and Room, are up for Best Picture of course but are also nominated in a number of other categories. 

Brooklyn, directed by Cork man John Crowley, is up for three awards including Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan as well as Best Screenplay. 

And Lenny Abrahamson could be in the running for a gong as his acclaimed film Room is up for four awards.

The movie sees Lenny with a nomination for Best Director and actress Brie Larson is up for Best Actress while Irish author of the novel Room, Emma Donoghue, is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Michael Fassbender is also in with a shot as he received a nomination for his turn as the titular character in Steve Jobs. 

And of course, we can't forget Ben Cleary who got the nod for Best Short Film for his seminal work on the movie Stutterer. 

"My legs went to jelly, it was absolutely mad," said Ben to Today FM today all the way from Hollywood. 

"We never thought our little film would go anywhere. You just don't think about this kind of thing. We're all in this weird, surreal place."

We bet! 

Meanwhile, Lenny doesn't even have an acceptance speech prepared in the event of a win. 

"I don't think I will have to use it but I don't want to be the one person who goes up and says he was so shocked he didn't write anything."

Ah the Irish, so humble.

But it seems most of the Irish Oscars pack are simply enjoying the moment. 

"The time when you are short-listed for something but you haven’t yet not won is the golden time," said Emma Donoghue when she heard of her nomination and we would have to agree. 

The build-up is the best part. 

The ceremony will take place extremely late on Sunday so if you don't feel like staying up all night, you can watch the full show on RTE 2 on Monday evening at 9pm.