Martin Keoghan has acknowledged an 'up and down' Leinster SHC campaign so far for Kilkenny but, crucially, has noted that their fate is still in their own hands.
Beat Dublin on Sunday at Parnell Park - a venue where the Dubs have never actually overcome Kilkenny in the championship - and the Cats will be just 70 minutes from collecting a seventh consecutive provincial title.
Lose, however, and if Offaly beat already relegated Kildare elsewhere, Kilkenny will be out of not just the provincial competition but the entire championship.
Those are some pretty high stakes with opponents Dublin treating the tie as effectively a Leinster semi-final, although even if the Sky Blues lose they will still qualify for an All-Ireland quarter-final at least.
From Kilkenny's perspective, it's all about showing some consistency now having won, lost and drawn games in the campaign, swinging from the low of losing to Galway in Round 1 to the high of hitting 4-14 in the second half alone of last Saturday's big win over Kildare.
"It's definitely been up and down," said attacker Keoghan at the announcement that Avonmore Protein Milk has extended its partnership with the GAA / GPA by five years.
"I think last weekend against Kildare summed it all up perfectly. That first half showed that if we're not at our level, we can be very, very beatable and a very ordinary team. But the second half then showed what we're capable of, if we're at it, hurling well together."
One statistic jumps out when looking back across Kilkenny's four-game campaign so far; they've racked up a massive 60 wides. They fired 40 of those across their last two games alone, missing 24 times against Kildare despite eventually putting 4-25 on the board.
"If you weren't scoring, and not creating the chances, it would be a problem," reasoned Keoghan, one of the key figures in Kilkenny's attack.
"But the fact we're creating the chances is a huge positive. It's just about correcting that and getting that accuracy level up. We're still scoring quite a lot while creating a lot of chances. So you definitely have to look at the positives.
"There's room for improvement in terms of our shooting percentages there, but definitely huge positives in terms of the chances we're creating."
Former Kilkenny captain Andy Comerford has been critical of the team at times this season and claimed after the provincial draw with Offaly that the full-forward line isn't being serviced with enough quality ball in.
"They could have an overcoat on them because they'd be getting so cold," said Comerford of the inside forwards.
Keoghan, TJ Reid and Harry Shine formed the full-forward line against Kildare and filled their boots, registering 3-12 between them.
Reid was back to near his best after being taken off against Offaly, Keoghan sniped four points from play and Shine impressed with 1-02 on his first appearance since last year's Leinster final due to a cruciate injury.
"He's still our leader, our talisman," said Keoghan of veteran Reid.
As for Shine, Keoghan had glowing praise too for the Dicksboro clubman who was surprisingly named to start against the Lilywhites.
"He played half an hour of club hurling two weeks ago," said Keoghan of Shine's preparation. "Stepping in there after basically a year out, it shows the quality of hurler he is."
A former Croke Cup winner with St Kieran's College, Shine has been tracked through the underage system for several years.
"I don't think we've even got a glimpse of what he's capable of yet," said Keoghan of Shine's senior prospects. "I think there's no ceiling to what he can produce, he has it all really."
Adrian Mullen is back in the fold too, another key performer returning from long-term injury at just the right time. Mullen scored a point as a substitute in the win over Kildare.
"It's just credit to the lads, how sharp they came back," said Keoghan.
"After lengthy spells out, to come back and not show any sign of rustiness, it's a credit to them and shows the quality of hurler they are, that they can step back in and in their very first match back have a big impact in championship hurling. Going forward, they're going to be a huge, huge help for us."
Cian Kenny will be available against Dublin also as his red card against Kildare was for two bookings.
On the debit side of the ledger, John Donnelly missed the Round 4 tie with an injury, according to Keoghan, while Jordan Molloy (knee) is out. Tommy Walsh (cruciate), Huw Hawlor and Billy Ryan (both unavailable) are significant losses from last year's team as well.
Dublin, fresh off their big win over Galway and desperate to impress again, will stress test Kilkenny's resources.
"They're absolutely flying it," said Keoghan of Niall Ó Ceallacháin's side.
"If you want to go about trying to take them down, it's hard. They're very good at running the ball. They've always been very good at playing it short but in the last year or two, John Hetherton, Ronan Hayes, these boys have shown they can mix it up and they can go long or short.
"So that's the tricky question, when you play them, do you push up or sit off them? Because they can play it both ways. And we've seen the running power they have there with Brian Hayes as well, so they've lads that can do it either way.
"Especially in Parnell Park, they're a hugely physical team. Bringing back Liam Rushe as well, he adds another physical dimension to them, so it's going to be a huge task going up there. They're flying it, crowd behind them, big atmosphere, tight pitch, it's a huge ask.
"But looking forward to the test as well. It's knockout championship hurling in the middle of summer. These are the games you want to be a part of, so really looking forward to it."
Watch a provincial hurling double-header, Dublin v Kilkenny (2pm) and Cork v Clare (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
