Independent candidate Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys at the RTÉ studios in Donnybrook. Photograph: PA

We tuned in hoping for an earthquake.

What we got was a seismic snooze.

True, a substantial tremor pulsed through the land at around a quarter to midnight. But it wasn’t caused by anything said in the last TV “debate” of this God-awful presidential election.

It was just the reverberation from a nation sighing a heartfelt “thanks be to Jaaysus” when the thing was finally over.

Given the two candidates’ debating performances so far – one piously whispering and the other nervously stuttering – perhaps the enterprise was always going to struggle under the weight of misplaced expectation.

But hope springs eternal when there might be the chance of one of them producing a sensational election-winning clincher, gladdening the hearts of all those who made the difficult decision to stay awake in the interests of democracy and a good political ding-dong.

Last night, it was the prospect of Heather Humphreys – lagging way behind, according to the most recent opinion poll – delivering a “knockout blow” to front-runner Catherine Connolly which tempted many viewers to stick with RTÉ’s Prime Time.

But it quickly became apparent that, short of whacking her rival over the head with a frying pan, this was not going to happen. And even if it did, the pan would have been made of Teflon, just like Catherine “I never avoided a question in my life” Connelly and her very since