Waterford's senior camogie players still have their fate in their own hands following their loss to Cork at Walsh Park on Sunday.
A low-scoring affair played out at the city ground with the Leesiders outscoring the Deise 16 points to 10.
Derek Lyons' team is still second in the table as they approach their final group game, but they hold that spot tenuously as Dublin are breathing down their neck.
The loss to Cork is only their second loss of the campaign, with the Dubs marking themselves on the scoresheet in the opening game of the campaign.
All-Star Beth Carton had another typical Beth Carton performance on Saturday shooting seven points (3fs, 2 45s), but the main talking point post-game is the number of bodies who will be on the treatment table. They lost Abby Flynn, Orla Hickey, and their talismanic captain Lorraine Bray to injury.
Lyons will be left to sweat on the fitness of those players, but he has the respite of a two-week break before they have to travel to Clare. "I spoke to her briefly [Orla] after the game, she says she'll be fine. It was an impact injury with the hard ground so hopefully, that's what it is. I was more worried that it might be cruciate. Brianna played probably 80/20, maybe 70/30, or I could even go to 60/40 if I had to, to be fair to the girl. She did a great job for us. Obviously, Lorraine getting the knock as well. With Abby, she was a little bit gingerly before the game. She had a small tweak in her hamstring on Thursday night so we were concerned about it. She went through the fitness test and just about got through it but we made a call early on as she wasn't running as freely as she normally would. We needed to get her off and save her for another day because we have a massive game in two weeks' time above in Clare."
A win in the banner county on July 2nd would confirm a quarter-final place for Waterford in the All-Ireland series. It may be their best chance in some years to finally break the first round of knockout games, and with Tipperary beaten earlier in the campaign they have already gone one step further than they have in the last four campaigns.
Lyons who is now in his second year in charge admits that this Clare trip may well be the biggest game in his tenure, "Yeah, I think it is. It's in our hands to qualify. We said all along that we need three wins in this group - I just hope that the Dublin defeat doesn't come back to haunt us. We'll have to get a team together and regroup on Tuesday night to see where we are with numbers, but our main concern now is with our captain".
