The 2016 awards season reaches its business end with an impressive array of nominations for Irish talent at the 74th Golden Globes.

Sing Street, John Carney's joyous musical set in 1980s Dublin, is up for best comedy or musical.

Ruth Negga, the rising Irish-Ethiopian actor, receives a best-drama actress nomination for her turn as Mildred Loving, one half of the couple whose case helped dismantle Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws, in Jeff Nichols's subtle Loving.

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Colin Farrell, a Golden Globe winner for In Bruges, is nominated in the best musical or comedy actor category for his blackly hilarious turn in Yorgos Lanthimos's The Lobster.

Both The Lobster and Sing Street were cofunded by the Irish Film Board.

"We are immensely proud of the teams behind Sing Street and The Lobster, which are amongst a number of Irish Film Board-funded films which have connected with audiences worldwide this year, showing the strength of Irish creativity." said IFB chief executive James Hickey.

The news comes at the end of a year that began with a record number of Oscar nominations for Irish film and talent. The Lobster may be a little too recherché for Oscar tastes. But Sing Street has a chance of best original song at that event, and Negga seems nearly certain to get a nomination for best actress.

"I'm so delighted because Sing Street is such a local story," said Carney. "With Colin and Ruth there as well, it does suggest we are saying something that the world is listening to. It proves Irish stories do resonate. I feel enormous pride for a largely unknown cast. We never expected this."

Telly nominations

There is also Irish interest in the television section. Caitriona Balfe is nominated for best actress in a drama series for her performance as a time-travelling nurse in Outlander. And if you want to stretch it, sometimes Donegal resident Sarah Jessica Parker, is nominated in the comedy actress category for Divorce, written by Co Meath native Sharon Horgan.

Nobody should complain about another hefty Irish haul, but many pundits felt that The Lobster and Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship, also a domestic coproduction, would challenge for best comedy or musical film. The broad, profane superhero romp Deadpool, a surprise nominee, occupies one of the spots for which those films were challenging. But nothing will beat Damien Chazelle's La La Land, a dreamy Hollywood musical, in that category.

La La Land, Chazelle's follow-up to Whiplash, is odds-on favourite to win the best picture Oscar in February. It topped the Globe nominations, scoring a spiffing seven nods.

Barry Jenkins's Moonlight, a beautiful African-American coming-of-age drama, was just behind with six mentions. Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea, a naturalistic tragedy set in blue-collar Massachusetts, appeared on five shortlists.

La La Land, Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea have dominated the awards chatter so far.

Ins and outs

There were, however, some surprises when Don Cheadle, Laura Dern and Anna Kendrick made the announcement in Hollywood at the crack of dawn on Monday morning.

Martin Scorsese's Silence, a spiritual epic starring Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield as Jesuits adrift in 17th-century Japan, was unexpectedly shut out of the nominations. In contrast, the surprising three mentions for Mel Gibson's war film Hacksaw Ridge, including best drama and best director, confirm the controversial actor and director is back in the conversation.

Voted upon by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Golden Globes, always a boozier, more raucous event than the Oscars, will take place on January 8th.

The Academy Award nominations will be unveiled on January 24th.

The full list of nominees:

Best Motion Picture – Drama

Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight

Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Drama

Rami Malek, Bob Odenkirk, Matthew Rhys, Liev Schreiber, Billy Bob Thornton

Best Director – Motion Picture

Damien Chazelle, Tom Ford, Mel Gibson, Barry Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Annette Bening, Lily Collins, Hailee Steinfeld, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep

Best Television Series – Drama

The Crown, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, This Is Us, Westworld

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Deadpool, Florence Foster Jenkins, La La Land, Sing Street, 20th Century Women

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain, Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga, Natalie Portman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

Casey Affleck, Joel Edgerton, Andrew Garfield, Viggo Mortensen, Denzel Washington

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Anthony Anderson, Gael García Bernal, Donald Glover, Nick Nolte, Jeffrey Tambor

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama

Caitriona Balfe, Claire Foy, Keri Russell, Winona Ryder, Evan Rachel Wood

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

Viola Davis, Naomie Harris, Nicole Kidman, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Williams

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Colin Farrell, Ryan Gosling, Hugh Grant, Jonah Hill, Ryan Reynolds

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

Cant Stop The Feeling, Trolls; City of Stars, La La Land; Faith, Sing; Gold, Gold; How Far I’ll Go, Moana

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture made for TV

Riz Ahmed, Bryan Cranston, Tom Hiddleston, John Turturro, Courtney B Vance

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Atlanta, Black-ish, Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, Veep

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

Arrival, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Moonlight

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for TV

Olivia Colman, Lena Heady, Chrissy Metz, Mandy Moore, Thandie Newton

Best Motion Picture – Animated

Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, My Life as a Zucchini, Sing, Zootopia

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Felicity Huffman, Riley Keough, Sarah Paulson, Charlotte Rampling, Kerry Washington

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Sterling K Brown, Hugh Laurie, John Lithgow, Christian Slater, John Travolta

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language

Devine, Elle, Neruda, The Salesman, Toni Erdmann

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Rachel Bloom, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Jessica Parker, Issa Rae, Gina Rodriguez, Tracee Ellis-Ross

Best Limited Series

American Crime, The Dresser, The Night Manager, The Night Of, The People vs OJ Simpson

Best Original Screenplay

Hell or High Water, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, Nocturnal Animals