Heather Humphreys failed to land 'any proper bodyblow' on Catherine Connolly in the last debate yesterday evening, Newstalk’s Political Correspondent has said. 

With just days to go before polls open and voters choose the next President of Ireland, the two remaining candidates in the race made their final pitches to undecided voters. 

Having watched the debate, Newstalk’s Seán Defoe described himself as “below underwhelmed”. 

 “This was Heather Humphreys’s last real chance to land some sort of a knockout blow, she didn’t do it,” he explained to Newstalk Breakfast.  

“Her chance was over the barrister stuff that has been dogging Catherine Connolly for a number of days. 

“She failed to land any sort of a body blow.” 

Catherine Connolly. Picture by: Newstalk.

Seán added that her overall delivery was “really quite poor”. 

“If there were undecided voters watching - and we know there are always undecided voters heading into the final few days of a campaign - I’m not sure any of them will be any the wiser,” he said. 

“In a way last night, the only one who might have picked up a few votes was Jim Gavin.  

“I’m a voter and all week, we’ve been sort of saying, ‘Don’t spoil your vote, do turn out to vote.’ 

“It’s very hard to make that argument when you saw that debate last night.” 

Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys. Picture by: Newstalk. 

When pressed on which candidate he believes lost, Seán said Fine Gael would be the least happy. 

“I don’t think either of them won but I think Heather lost,” he said. 

“She didn’t manage to get any sort of a proper bodyblow on Catherine that will change the course of the debate. 

“Catherine Connolly faced a lot of the same questions; didn’t give answers in relation to the barrister stuff.” 

The only question that was both new and interesting, Seán continued, was when the candidates were asked about their regrets. 

“Heather Humphreys seemed quite emotional when she said she regretted some of the COVID restrictions and the way that people couldn’t spend their dying moments with their loved ones or had to do it through a window from outside,” he said. 

“Then Catherine Connolly hoped on that and said, ‘Yeah, I agree with your mistake, even if I went along with it at the time.’”

The count will begin on Saturday morning and a result is expected that afternoon or evening. 

Main image: Heather Humphreys. Picture by: Newstalk.