Tipperary actor Pat Shortt won Best Actor in the Evening Standard Film Awards this week for his role as Josie in Lenny Abrahamson’s powerful film Garage. Though he had to share the gong with Michael Sheen for his Frost in Frost/Nixon, Shortt’s win for a heartbreaking performance – I mean it, this will make your chest hurt – as a lonely, small town petrol pump attendant, was very much deserved. It was also a joy to see Abrahamson up there against Stephen Daldry and Danny Boyle in a nominations shortlist that is selected by a jury of film critics, though Daldry got the nod in the end for The Reader. Those who haven’t seen Garage yet, this is a timely reminder to catch one of the finest films to come out of Ireland in years by a director who might well be the best thing to come out of Irish cinema in . . . well, ever. There, I’ve said it.  Any better contenders?