When even a senior International Hockey Federation official takes it upon herself to privately apologise to a member of the Irish delegation about the standard of umpiring in Sunday's defeat by France it would be hard to fault the squad for wallowing in a persecution complex while they attempt to ready themselves for today's critical World Cup Qualifier pool game against Kazakstan.
Justifiably, though, the Irish players are as angry with themselves as they are with the Chilean umpire who denied them two "cast iron" penalty strokes against France, amongst her many woeful decisions, and are resolved to get their campaign back on track after its weekend derailment.
"We can't blame everything on the umpiring because when I looked back at the video of the match I saw how many times we needlessly lost possession, failed to get shots in when we were in the circle or how we lacked penetration in attack - all that was our fault, nobody elses," admitted coach Riet Kuper.
"Yes, we felt lousy after the game because we didn't get the strokes we deserved but everyone realises we should have done enough to win the game long before then."
England's defeat of India on Sunday and Saturday's draws between France and Kazakstan and India and Ukraine had the net effect of lessening the gravity of the loss to France and ensuring that Ireland's fate is still in their own hands.
Victories over Kazakstan today and Ukraine tomorrow would guarantee them a place in the World Cup finals, while a draw today and a win tomorrow could even be enough, if other results and scorelines go their way.
"In that respect losing to France changes nothing. We came here believing we would have to beat Kazakstan and Ukraine to finish in the top two in the pool and that's still how it stands.
Two more wins in-a-row and we're going to Perth, three and we win a medal, four and we win gold," said the eternally positive Rachael Kohler, the Irish captain.
"We just can't wait to get playing again because we're so angry with ourselves for how we played against France, we just want a chance to put it right.
Provided we play to our full potential it's definitely possible for us to win our last two pool games." Their scoreless draw with France and a narrow 1-0 defeat by England suggests Kazakstan might prove a whole lot more tricky for Ireland than anyone imagined pre-tournament.
They have to beat Ireland, though, if they are to retain any qualifying hopes themselves so their usual tactic of packing their circle with 11 players might well have to be adjusted.
