Three candidates will contest Irish presidential election

The successful candidate will replace Michael D Higgins as the outgoing president of Ireland - seen here are L-R Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin and Heather Humphreys

Three candidates will contest the Irish presidential election in October.

The successful candidate will replace the outgoing president of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, whose second and final seven-year term of office ends in November.

Two of the candidates will represent the main government parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, while an independent candidate will have the support of most of the opposition in the Dáil (Irish parliament).

Fianna Fáil went outside its own political family to parachute a high-profile Irish sporting figure, the former Dublin GAA football manager Jim Gavin, into the contest.

Michael D Higgins's second and final seven-year term of office ends in November

Fine Gael originally selected a former EU commissioner, Mairead McGuinness, but when she bowed out on health grounds, the party moved swiftly to select a retired government minister, Heather Humphreys.

The list of contenders is completed by Catherine Connolly, an independent TD who will be the standard-bearer for a quasi-alliance of left-leaning parliamentary parties and individual members of the opposition, and others.

This broad grouping includes the main opposition party, Sinn Féin, which decided against selecting its own candidate, in favour of backing Connolly.

The party's strategy is based on a belief that a united left opposition candidate is a declaration of intent towards ultimately seeking to replace the current coalition government at the next Irish general election.

So, while two of the three big Irish political parties have selected their own candidates, Sinn Féin has decided to sit this one out in its own right, and campaign for a candidate outside the party.

The Sinn Féin leadership is convinced this is the appropriate approach for this election, but the outcome of the campaign will be scrutinised closely to see how this strategy eventually stacks up.

The only other candidates who were close to securing nominations were the conservative and family rights campaigner Maria Steen, who came up just short of the 20 Dáil and Senate nominations required, while the businessman Gareth Sheridan only managed to get two of the four nominations he needed from local councils.

In the end, Bob Geldof, Conor McGregor and Michael Flatley did not make it onto the Irish presidential election ticket.

All three internationally recognised personalities were among many people who had indicated that they would have liked to contest the election.

There was no shortage of eye-rolling around much of the country at the very idea of the former MMA fighter McGregor, the Riverdance creator Flatley or the Boomtown Rats and Live Aid guru Geldof ever making it onto the ballot paper.

Each would have needed to secure a nomination from a big political party, or through the support of four local councils or 20 members of Dáil Éireann and Seanád Éireann (the Lower House and Senate).

In truth, very few people in the country could ever see any of these pathways opening up in their favour.

So, if celebrity briefly threw open the prospect of a little stardust in the Irish presidential campaign, reality didn't take long to set in and eventually the big surprise was that no one was surprised when this trio, and many other prospective candidates, failed to make it to the starting line.

But, another trio has managed to hit the starting blocks - a politician, a former politician, and a former GAA manager.

Jim Gavin, Heather Humphreys and Catherine Connolly will have the race all to themselves.

But there will be no shortage of political hurdles for all three candidates in the coming weeks.

Bob Geldof, Conor McGregor and Michael Flatley all expressed their interest in running

Jim Gavin is a political novice whose name recognition is primarily associated with a groundbreaking period of unparalleled success as manager of the Dublin GAA football team.

But, while his football teams lit up Ireland's national sport, his own pre and post-match interviews seldom caught fire and that's something he will have to change if he is to reach beyond a GAA base during the upcoming campaign, especially in the much-anticipated TV and other debates.

Heather Humphreys comes from the protestant community in the border county of Monaghan, and she has served in a number of ministerial roles in recent Irish governments.

Coming from a rural background, one of her big challenges will be to have a breakout moment among huge swathes of voters in Dublin, Ireland's capital city and its biggest centre of population.

Catherine Connolly, hailing from County Galway along Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way, is a left-wing, Irish speaking TD and a former Leas-Cheann Comhairle (deputy speaker) in the Dáil.

The broad left leaning support for Connolly's campaign will get her so far, but if she is to cross the line ahead of her two rivals, she will need to reach well beyond the left to attract potentially crucial transfer votes.

These are just some of the many big challenges ahead for all three candidates, but at least they don't have to try to match the attributes of a fighter, a dancer or a singer.