Dublin not Kearns' priority

It looks enticing given that Dublin and Laois have been the strongest teams in Leinster over the past five years but for new Laois manager Liam Kearns Sunday is still just the final of a secondary provincial competition.

After three good wins in the O'Byrne Cup to date - achieved while juggling an extensive injury list to the extent that having disposed of Louth in the quarter-final, Laois showed nine changes for last week's semi-final against Offaly - Kearns is more conscious of the need to hit the ground running when the National Football League starts in just over a week's time.

"I'm more concerned about the first league match, to be honest," he says about the weekend's clash with the Leinster champions, "so I'm not willing to risk anyone. As far as I'm concerned this is just a pre-season cup and I'm not reading anything into it other than that."

In a way that's surprising, as in his previous position when elevating Limerick to their highest standing in senior football for a century, the former Kerry player made frequent use of Munster's equivalent competition, the McGrath Cup.

"There's no real significance in that," he says. "We won the McGrath Cup three times but it was a different scenario and had different uses. I don't think we beat Kerry in a final but we did beat them along the way in one of the years. But Limerick were a team looking for a breakthrough."

Yet there were similarities between the counties in that unprecedented underage success needed to be translated on to the senior stage in both cases. But Kearns believes the disparity between the two experiences (Limerick's solitary under-21 Munster title in 2000 and Laois's three minor All-Irelands in just over 10 years is too great for comparison.

"Yes but that success was the under-21 final and I trained the squad so I was making the breakthrough with them. This is different. I'm coming into the situation here and there's a greater depth of talent. When I took over Limerick they were ranked about 30; Laois are one of the top 10 teams in the country."

He's also arriving in the wake of his legendary county man Mick O'Dwyer, who in his first year in 2003, bridged the 57-year gap to the county's previous Leinster title. Isn't this a pressurised situation with O'Dwyer having raised expectations through that achievement?

"I don't think so," he says. "If anything Laois appear to have stagnated a little bit. But the bar is where the bar is. The team reached the (All-Ireland) quarter-finals last year and at the end of the day it's four years now since the Leinster win. If we get to the quarter-finals again that's where the bar is; if we want to raise it we have to go farther."

This year's league campaign is important as it will form the basis of next season's four-division format. Kearns sees the competition as having enhanced importance even without that detail.

"We want to have a decent league run although there are other considerations. But in three of the last four seasons, either Tyrone or Kerry have done the double. The days of cruising the league are gone."

Despite the tight schedule just a week from the start of the league, he's happy with the year so far. "It's very useful getting the fourth game out of it, although I've so many backs injured that I've only the bare six and that ties your hands a bit."

Waterford team manager Justin McCarthy has made three changes from the team that beat Limerick IT for Sunday's Munster Cup hurling semi-final against Cork in Dungarvan.

Fit again John Mullane returns to the attack in place of Eoin McGrath, John Hartley comes in at midfield for Stephen Molumphy and Tom Feeney returns to his customary full back position with Barry Mullane dropped to the bench.

WATERFORD (SH v Cork):C Hennessy; E Murphy, T Feeney, D Prendergast; A Carney, K McGrath, J Murray; M Walsh (capt), J Hartley; D Shanahan, J Kennedy, E Kelly; J Mullane, S Prendergast, C Carey.