Republic of Ireland boss Vera Pauw is hopeful Katie McCabe's ankle injury is not serious as the squad prepares to fly out to Australia for a historic first appearance at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Captain McCabe rolled her ankle 15 minutes in to Thursday night's 3-0 defeat to France at Tallaght Stadium.
She soldiered on until the half-hour mark when she was replaced by Izzy Atkinson. Pauw now has her fingers and toes crossed that the Arsenal star will shake it off quickly as the clock ticks down on the huge group opener against Australia on 20 July.
"She rolled over the ankle, stepped on the foot of the opponent," said Pauw.
"We cannot say anything now, we will see how it goes, hopefully not too bad. It definitely changed the game, we were in control. You can't blame Izzy. Katie is extraordinary."
Ireland were comfortably beaten in the end by a very accomplished French outfit but for 45 minutes, the hosts looked rock solid. The concession of two goals in first-half injury-time completely deflated them, though Pauw focused on the positives.
"I'm very proud, we've performed at a very high level for Ireland," she said. "Especially the first half, the way we started, it was phenomenal - the best half that we played against a higher opposition so far. We keep on improving and improving.
"We took the positives, the really good play that we've done and we've sharpened a few things."
"We said at half-time, 'you did phenomenal, it was absolutely fantastic, so don't let those two goals get you down'.
"This is why we play France, a top-five nation. This is why we put this game at this stage now because this will not happen at the World Cup. So we took the positives, the really good play that we've done and we've sharpened a few things."
After an intense couple of weeks, Ireland will now begin the process of decamping to their World Cup base in Brisbane.
They will gather for a brunch on Friday before half of the squad fly out, with the rest departing on Saturday because there's not enough business class seats available for everyone to leave together.
Once the players are settled in, Pauw will prep for a behind-closed-doors friendly against Colombia on 14 July, a game of importance as she looks to further integrate the newer faces Sinead Farrelly and Marissa Sheva.
"You can see that they're completely different players," Pauw said of the US-born pair.
"Marissa is the engine and is also very good at winning the ball and then not losing it again, and going forward or pressing forward.
"Sinead is more like subtle. They both did really really well. I hope you see that quality and why we brought them in."
Before kick-off members of the first women's team to represent the Republic of Ireland 50 years ago formed a guard of honour to welcome the class of 2023 on to the pitch.
It was a nice moment in front of a 7,633 attendance. The result could have been better, but Pauw embraced the positivity after what's been a tough few days.
"Those legends, they started it," she said. "We're standing on their shoulders, so it was so nice. But they had to realise they had to get off the pitch at that moment hey! They were enjoying themselves so much and they fully deserve it and I hope they really enjoyed it.
"I was looking at the opposite side [of the stadium] and thought, 'aw, no gaps, everybody's turned up' so in this weather I'm so proud of all those kids and their parents and the teams and everybody that supported us."
Squad picked, warm-up games on home soil done - now it's off to Oz to pore over the post-match video and iron out the wrinkles. There's work to be done as Pauw tries to find the blend required to turn over a formidable Australia on their own patch, but Ireland will back themselves to get it right on the big night.
"We were so proud, we were actually playing an even game against France and that is a huge compliment and nobody would have expected it," she added.
"The game plan was ready. Second half, we couldn't cope any more, we couldn't get the pressure any more, the wind was strong so that didn't help us. Instead of playing more opportunistic, we were playing smaller in and around the penalty box and that made it difficult for us.
"We learn from that also, that when you get under that pressure of this opponent you need to step over to more opportunistic play, get that ball away and don't hang around your own penalty box.
"We learn from these details and we have to be better and we will see how we are against Australia."
