The Waterford hurlers' fate is no longer in their own hands in the Munster Championship. Their loss to Cork leaves them on two points and level with Cork in the table.
The Rebels notched their first win of the campaign yesterday in Walsh Park and in so doing, have blown the championship wide open.
Waterford now need to go to Clare and win if they have any hope of finding their way out of the province, but a win on it's own may not be enough. If Cork get over Tipp in Semple on Sunday, then a nail will be driven into the Waterford coffin bringing their year to a sudden - and early - end.
Following the final yesterday, the manager Liam Cahill gave his thoughts on the performance, and what comes next.
Why did ye come up short today?
"We weren't good enough, simple as. We hurled like a car on dirty petrol, just chugging along. Just not acceptable. Not acceptable to the big Waterford support that came here. It's terribly, bitterly disappointing."
In what areas was it unacceptable?
"We didn't hurl together as a team. We didn't commit to what we said we would commit to when we came out. We had the advantage at times where we kicked on by four points and looked like we were going about our business properly and then just decided to down tools and let Cork back into the game. We've a lot of work to do to get our heads around this to go to Ennis in seven days' time. It's going to take a lot of soul searching and a lot of honesty to come out here over the next seven days or we'll have a good long summer to think about it."
What did you say to the players?
"I haven't spoken to them yet but we'll go back for a bit of recovery and I'm really interested to get their views now. A lot of things that happened today happened between the lines. It takes massive leaders to sort them out. Our decisions were poor again, you always hear me talking about that. Delaying the ball around with runs being made by inside forwards, not setting up for our puckouts quickly. Looking in at a different team really versus the team that I know is there."
View on Austin Gleeson second yellow?
"I really didn't see it. That's not a cop out. I genuinely didn't. I was turning back to bring in Shane Bennett at the time. I don't know what happened. I can't comment if I didn't see it. If it was warranted, it's bitterly, bitterly disappointing. We'll do our best to address it and fix it again. It just seems to be falling on deaf ears at this stage."
Did Cork outwork ye?
"Cork did absolutely outwork us today. Cork bullied us around the field today. That's something we committed to that we wouldn't allow any team to bully us. From the throw in, we had players that were introduced to proper Munster championship hurling. That's what it was going to be here. When the questions were really asked around the cut and thrust of championship hurling, we were more or less looking to the officials and out to the line rather than to what was going on between the lines."
"They dictated with their work rate. They outworked us, they outworked us all over the field. When that happens, it's very hard to stem it. Cork were good today, give Cork credit. They came here fighting for their lives. Cork are proud people, proud hurling people, I've always said that. Hats off to Kieran Kingston and his backroom team for getting them where they are today and the shape they arrived in. This is a tough ground to come to and we like making it that way."
Are you confident the players can turn it around?
"I am. I have great belief in these players, I've always said that. I'm here, I'm in the trenches with them now, that's what I signed up to and I will help them every way I can. I can't wait to get stuck into them during the week. We'll try and fix what went wrong today and we'll come to Ennis with all guns blazing to try and keep the summer alive for everyone here in Waterford."
