At the beginning of the night, the victory seemed to be anyone's for the taking. As nine out of 10 of the nominated acts played a short set of three songs from their nominated albums (James Vincent McMorrow was touring at the time), Rusangano Family treated their set like they owned the stage. A pumping, riotous 10 minutes saw Mc Godknows, donned in a club GAA shirt, racing back and forth into the crowd and bouncing verses off with his sidekick MuRli. Even if the winner of the €10,000 award was decided before the live show itself, it kind of felt like Rusangano’s performance helped seal the deal on the night.

Picture This took home the award for Best Single for their debut hit ‘Take My Hand’. Up against some great tracks from the likes of Hare Squead, Soule and Saint Sister, Picture This’ overwhelming success last year meant that the win for their first single was entirely deserved. The lads accepted the award via a video message from all the way out in Nashville, where they’re recording their long-awaited debut album (more news to come on that…)

Elsewhere, nine performances on the night showed the huge variety of Irish music that exists today. The brevity and improvisation of the sets seemed to favour bigger bands more than solo acts, meaning that the likes of Overhead, The Albatross and Bantum packed quite a hefty punch with only a few songs. Strong performances from stalwarts The Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon looks and talks as if an award is the last thing on his mind – he’s just there for the craic) and Lisa Hannigan also rounded off a great night for Irish music.