There was no knock-out punch but there were plenty of digs, upper-cuts and side-swipes over the two-hour debate.
The opening focus on coalition possibilities, with a particular focus on Sinn Féin, got the leaders warmed-up.
However, housing policy was the point when the leaders really got stuck into each other.
The audience's frustration with the Government’s housing policy was clear. Critiques of homelessness, rental hikes and property price hikes were all rewarded with applause.
The diverse solutions to those real and deep problems were on view, although frequently the debate shifted from solutions to trading barbs.
Given the scale and price tag of the proposed housing solutions, the questions on taxation once again yielded very different approaches.
Climate action and crime also featured in the debate but health, maybe due to time constraints, didn’t feature.
So how did the leaders do in performance terms?
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Richard Boyd Barrett secured the most applause for punchy comments on housing and tax. A good outing.
Leo Varadkar scored best when talking of tax and the economy - intervening and scoring points, although housing was a tough section.
Brendan Howlin put in a credible performance when talking about his ambition on housing. He probably tried to interject too many times.
After pressing for a debate, Mary Lou McDonald used her time well. She had a number of zingers, but was then tackled hard on stats and facts.
Micheál Martin always performs well and was clearly targeting both Leo Varadkar and Mary Lou McDonald when possible, however he needed time to recover from some hits on housing policy.
Eamon Ryan as usual remained positive and full of "can do", despite several references to the Green Party’s last time in government. He finished strongly on the issue of climate.
Róisín Shortall did well in her interventions but sometimes seemed to disappear from the viewer. She was strong on land use, tax and crime, and put in a credible performance.
All in all - entertaining.
