Munster Football Championship: Keith Duggan talks to Limerick manager Liam Kearns about the county's aim to build on their league campaign, starting with a daunting trip to Cork this weekend

Limerick are the new black. They are this season's Westmeath, the team on everybody's lips. People like the look of Limerick. It is a measure of how far they have travelled that their championship game against Cork is regarded as the potential game of the weekend.

Last weekend's Division Two league final gave them a taste of Croke Park and national exposure and the attractive brand of football they espouse brought more converts their way. For a county that seemed trapped in the brambles of the championship for as long as the competition has existed, this is an exciting time. The league has provided them with a platform, the final against Westmeath was certainly the highlight of the league play-offs. There is just one problem. Limerick lost the match.

"Yeah, we left it behind us and that is very disappointing," admits Liam Kearns.

"We gave away a very soft goal at a critical time and not only that, we tried to save the game by going for a goal ourselves instead of holding our nerve and seeking the two points, which I believe we might have got."

Kearns was told afterwards by people in the stands that they could hear him bellowing at his players to pick off points during the last-gasp seconds of that game. Beforehand, they had spoken of how they would behave in a squeeze of a finish and promised themselves they would stay calm. Excitement gripped them and that was as worrying for Kearns to observe as it was instructive.

Limerick approached the league play-offs and this championship game against Cork as a trilogy, as one continuing project. Ideally, they were to have emerged with a perfect three-game record. But best laid plans are there to come undone and so they resumed training this week with talk of what-ifs still hanging in the air.

"Win or lose, preparing for this game against Cork so close to a national final was never going to be ideal. We failed to close out the game against Westmeath and that is disappointing but we picked ourselves up fairly sharply. Visiting Páirc Uí Chaoimh is a massive task and it is something we have been preparing for long before this week."

Kearns has already gone on record to say that this is as good a year as any for his team to debunk history. It is not so long ago since Limerick were ranked 31st out of the 32 counties. Too much is made of tradition in terms of counties performing well but in Limerick it was oppressive. It was as if there was a stigma in representing the county at football.

Kearns remembers an exchange with a Cavan supporter after Limerick had managed a draw with the well-decorated Ulster county in their championship qualifier last year. The man chuckled as he assured Kearns that Limerick had blown the opportunity of a lifetime and would not have a hope in the replay. The Limerick man ventured that his boys would have a chance anyhow. No, argued the local man, falling serious.

"Limerick beating Cavan in Breffni - sure it would be like the sun falling out of the sky."

The words stayed with Kearns even though Limerick did win that replay. In many ways, he could understand the discrimination. Even within the confines of Munster, Limerick's summer record has been lamentable. Last year, they found liberation through the qualifiers but it would be nice to make a charge the old-fashioned way, through the Munster gateway.

"We are talking about a century here," acknowledges Kearns. "Now, there have been improvements - we gave Cork and Kerry reasonable games in the past few years.

But they still won. And perhaps they weren't on their guard as much then. I don't think the same will apply this weekend. Everyone knows what this Cork team is capable of and playing them in the Páirc is a hell of a task. But it is what we want to be measured against."

Kearns watched Cork in the league and was impressed. Already, he has reservations about heading into the cut-throat environment of Division One A where Cork narrowly missed out on the play-offs and where Limerick will operate next year.

Many parallels have been drawn between the development of Limerick and that of Westmeath, and Kearns spoke with Luke Dempsey about the perils of hard-earned promotion to the big time followed by a dispiriting slide back down a season later.

"He feels, with some justification, that the top divisions are lopsided and I would agree. I don't think Division One A and B are at all evenly balanced. For us, it is crucial to play the top teams in terms of our development.

"Westmeath only lost their games by a couple of points but immediate demotion was a set-back in terms of their confidence. It is essential that we avoid the same. Because playing regularly against the strongest counties helps prepare for games of this magnitude."

Kearns does not know how many Limerick people will travel south but hopes the numbers will be considerable because "they have a good football team to follow now."

For Cork, it is a tricky task. Their last competitive game was up in Dungannon over a month ago. Meeting a county in the full steam of competition is demanding in its own right. And Limerick have the bones of a solid and troubling modern football team, even if they are not yet the finished thing.

Still, they are visiting a county that has six All-Irelands, a team with the unhappy memory of last year's All-Ireland final to call upon and a team emboldened by the returning members from the Nemo Rangers club. And there have been signs in the league that Colin Corkery will not be the necessarily be the chief dimension of the Cork threat this season.

But Liam Kearns could sit talking to you all day about Cork's myriad strengths. That does not change things for Limerick. Sooner or later they have to make a stand. If a great ball of fire plunges into the Lee tomorrow afternoon, we will know their hour has arrived.