Vera Pauw is prepared to shoulder the "horrible" responsibility of shattering players' dreams as she prepares to name her final 23-player squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The list will be revealed in less than a week's time, with three back-up players also permitted to travel Down Under.
In the wake of Thursday's 3-2 friendly win against Zambia, Pauw admitted the process of trimming down her extended panel has filled her with dread.
Although there's a core of certainties, there's several agonising choices to make, with the competition for places epitomised by Claire O'Riordan's excellent showing against the Zambians.
In April, Lucy Quinn wasn't even in the original squad for the double-header against the USA but was called up after Megan Campbell withdrew. Quinn went on to deliver a player-of-the-match performance in the second clash with the world No 1-ranked Americans.
Celtic defender O'Riordan, who has similarly found herself on the periphery recently, also seized her opportunity with an excellent showing against Zambia, nabbing a fine headed goal and acquitting herself well all night.
With everyone pushing, and everyone desperate to make it, Pauw is feeling the strain.
"But it's part of elite sport. It's part of it but it hurts."
"It's horrible. It's really horrible," she said. "But for them it's worse. I need to take it on my shoulders. It will turn around after those decisions are made and then we can go ahead.
"But until that moment it's not the ones who make that are in my mind but the ones who do not make it.
"This is the first game we've had since coming together. All those players who have not made the squad [for the Zambia game], they must feel bad. I've texted every single player.
"I did it on the way to the stadium because I felt that they're not here, they're not with us. It hurts.
"But it's part of elite sport. It's part of it but it hurts."
It was an understandably disjointed game at Tallaght Stadium as Pauw gave several fringe players a chance to stake a claim. She made five changes at the break - six in total - with Amber Barrett, O'Riordan and Abbie Larkin the three who probably came out of the runout with the most credit.
Still, there's no guarantees and much could depend on the fitness of centre-half Aoife Mannion, who has her knee brace removed on Monday. If Mannion doesn't make it, previously closed doors will open.
"As you've seen, the players on the pitch, they've performed better than they've ever done - some of them," Pauw added.
"That makes it more difficult. I think we need a video also to have a very honest [assessment] because that is the crucial thing. I want to give a very, very honest opinion at the end and take those honest decisions without any lies or anything - favours, or whatever. It needs to be based on the performance on the pitch.
"It's the worst day of the campaign, the moment that I have to take that final decision, because that will be on my shoulders. We do it together. We do everything together with the technical stuff. But at the end, I'm the responsible. So I'm not looking forward to that."
Zambia were awkward opponents in Dublin. The superb Barbra Banda caused all sorts of problems, and she was ably supported by Grace Chanda and Racheal Kundananji, who offered intelligence, pace and power between them.
"They're physically so strong and fast and skillful," said Pauw. "We knew that that would be a huge problem. It was moments. We knew also to press them, they were not so good in playing out.
"In the [half-time] break, the first sentence I said was, 'guys, if you have a fear of failure, you will never succeed'. It was the first sentence, the first line on the first presentation four years ago with the first activity.
"And that is what happened today. In the first half, there were players who had fear of making mistakes. We said, 'You must have the guts to fail, if you don't have the guts to fail, you will not succeed'.
"If you want to see players, to give them a chance, as a coach you must have the guts also. That was the reason why we just did. No chaos, a structure, a core of players that create that but we need to give all the other players a chance to show themselves. I think they've had it."
