Pressure adds dash of excitement as final three bid for MasterChef title

Three women, hungry to take home the title of MasterChef Ireland, will battle it out in the kitchen tonight.

The final of the series on RTÉ One follows 10 gruelling and emotionally challenging weeks.

The contenders are:

- Diana Dodog, 35, originally from Hungary, now living in Courtmacsherry, Co Cork. She has launched Food Depot, a gourmet street kitchen in Cork;

- Niamh Mannion, 43, born in Ndola, Zambia, grew up in Dublin and now living in Roscommon, where she works for the Land Registry;

- Edel Byrne, 37, originally from Dublin but now living in Celbridge, Co Kildare, where she is bringing up her family. Her ultimate dream is to have her own cookery school.

They were picked from Ireland’s best 24 amateur cooks by judges Nick Munier and Dylan McGrath.

Tonight, the women have three hours to present their final dishes.

Niamh presents a brave dish to Dylan but he is unsure and wonders why she feels the need to be different when she was better producing honest food.

“She just needs to cook and be herself,” he says.

Edel’s pigeon falls foul of the judges’ expectations and Nick quickly voices his concern when he spots a rare mistake.

While he enjoys pink pigeon, it is not cooked enough. “It is actually raw pigeon,” he says. “Ultimately you would just send that back in a restaurant.”

Diana’s bacon-wrapped loin of venison wins high praise, with Nick describing it as the best dish she cooked. “That’s passion on a plate,” says Dylan.

Niamh’s panna cotta and mousse puts her back in the running, with Dylan describing it as absolutely perfect. And he tells Edel she has redeemed herself with her roasted fig.

The question now is whether Diana’s ‘Brambles and Bramley’ dessert pushes her far ahead enough to take the crown?

The finale of MasterChef Ireland 2014 is RTÉ One at 8.30pm tonight.