Champions just four years ago, Wexford are staring down the barrel of a summer without Leinster Championship hurling in 2024.
The Yellowbellies' disastrous collapse against Westmeath on Sunday leaves them facing potential relegation into the Joe McDonagh Cup, with old foes Kilkenny in line to send their neighbours into the second tier.
It was a game that Wexford should have been able to finish out. 17 up at one stage, the gap was 16 at the break, and it was still 10 late on, but two late goals completed a memorable resurrection for the Lake County.
It means that if the Slaneysiders ship another defeat on Sunday, coupled with an Antrim victory over Westmeath, then they will slip through the trap door.
While progress into the All-Ireland series is still possible for Joe McDonagh Cup teams, and Laois, as McDonagh champions, did defeat Dublin in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final in 2019, it would be a massive blow to a county which has always considered itself one of the elite in terms of the small ball game.
Speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast, Shane McGrath said that a lack of proper structures in the south-east has led to inevitable decline.
"It's a long time since they won minors, U20s, their school teams being competitive," he pointed out.
"It's not just now at senior level. This is all the steps of the ladder, the whole way down. There needs to be a massive meeting, a committee set up, whatever it needs to be.
"They do good work in the schools, and they do great stuff on social media about it, but are the right things being done with development squads and the minor teams?
"The other side of it is, is the talent just not there at the moment? Even if you look at where Limerick are at now, it took a long time - six or seven years - for them to see minor teams being competitive, U-21s winning All-Irelands, and now their golden generation being a product of that stuff.
"This could take time [even] if the right structure is put in."
Next year will mark the 28th anniversary of Wexford's last All-Ireland triumph in 1996, which itself came 28 years after the county's previous Liam MacCarthy success in 1968.
While there has been much social media criticism of manager Darragh Egan, who brought the team to last year's All-Ireland quarter final, where they ran Clare close, McGrath says the players need to take more of the blame.
SHC permutations: Limerick, Cork and Wexford in danger, six counties chasing final spots
11 of the team that were on the pitch at Croke Park during the 2019 provincial triumph, including nine starters, were involved in Sunday's defeat. For McGrath it was a case of those Leinster medal holders not finishing out a game that they should never have lost.
"What happened yesterday is one of the biggest turnarounds in championship hurling," McGrath, who is friends with the Wexford manager, added.
"To be outscored 4-13 to 0-07 points in the second half, regardless of who you're playing... that's a sort of down tools things for me.
"I'm sure he [Egan] will put his hand up and say we got it wrong here as well, but it can't always be the managers.
"The managers are coming and going down there but sometimes you have to look internally. As someone said to me before, if you want the answer to your problem go down to your local hardware shop and buy a full length mirror and I guarantee you you'll find the answer to your problem.
"That needs to be done."
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
Watch the Joe McDonagh Cup final, Carlow v Offaly, live on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
Watch a hurling double-header, Dublin v Galway and Limerick v Cork, from 1.30pm on Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app or RTÉ.ie/Sport or listen to live radio updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch highlights of the weekend's football and hurling championship action on The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game, 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
