LIAM KEARNS won't say what happened the first time he walked into a Laois dressing room. Won't tell a single tale from behind the plywood door. Instead he remains stern and serious and professional but even the slightest intuition can get past that obstacle. It's about now we'll introduce Limerick to Laois, Laois to Limerick. For all their differences and distances, Kearns knows the similarities that have travelled just below the surface for far too long.

He was in charge for all Limerick's near-misses, turned them from a county that was beaten by Leitrim by 20 points in his second league game in charge to a team that should have beaten Kerry in 2004 and 2005. He'll tell you about Laois as well. He may not have been there but kept an eye on their fortunes, what with his mother hailing from Graiguecullen and his father having played for the club after moving there for work purposes in the 1960s. Laois might have been Leinster champions four years running. Instead they fell short.

It goes on. In 2005, with his Limerick side leading Kerry by seven points approaching half-time, he turned to a selector and told him two more points would see the last of the air leave Kerry's lungs, even with such time remaining. Seven days previous to that encounter they had thrown away such a lead but were now on a higher plane, leaving their opponents gasping. Limerick didn't get those scores and instead Eoin Brosnan netted, a dodgy penalty followed and Limerick were suddenly gone. It finished 3-10 to 2-9. A couple of weeks earlier Laois had thrown away their very own provincial final replay, losing out to Westmeath. The following year, Limerick again missed out to their new rivals Kerry. The following year, Laois lost out to a familiar rival, the Leinster final.

And all that's before we even get near the discipline.

Back in April 2005, Limerick were set to fly to a training camp in La Manga. Goalkeeper Seamus O'Donnell was forced to pull out of that trip and Kearns elected to bring an under-21 player in his place. The county board was having none of it, sending an official instead and while Kearns argued, the players took action and moved towards the GPA for help.

Things finally erupted as news emerged that the players had in fact raised Euro18,000 to fund the trip themselves.

Back in Laois, anger was directed squarely at the players. Before Mick O'Dwyer arrived, there were renowned problems with panellists avoiding the hard work and quite a few training sessions.

Even when O'Dwyer arrived there were still troubles. Last year Colm Parkinson was nominated as captain and just a few weeks later decided to jump ship and travel the world for a year. A little intuition goes a long way.

"I can see how people might draw comparisons, " says Kearns, "but in fairness, maybe that's being a little too simplistic and sometimes people are just that when they come to expectations and performance. I guess when I came into Limerick, I always had a goal of winning a Munster final. So from my perspective we underachieved and I ultimately failed. But in another way, given the players and where we came from, we might have overachieved.

"Here Laois were in three Leinster finals, won just one, so did they underachieve? But again there's a flip side. Like Laois have done well at minor but that means nothing. For you to do anything there needs to be a lot of success at minor, followed by a lot of success at under-21 which has not happened here yet. Like this is a county with a barren history and that took a ridiculous amount of time to win a Leinster title at senior. They are getting there but some of the things I hear people say about Laois drive me crazy.

Like there are a lot of misconceptions about this side.

"For example I heard before we played Longford we had bulked up and become an overly-physical side. You know where that came from?

A report from a challenge match with Kerry in a newspaper. It even said the game was in Tralee when it was in Limerick. It goes to show how things catch on. And I also hear how people mention us as All Ireland contenders and I think one step at a time and my feelings are well documented on this. We have won a single Leinster, we have a lot of injuries, one step at a time, let's look towards Leinster."

His attitude in his latest posting proves little has changed throughout his career. He first started building clubs from the ground up way back in the 1980s when he took charge of Dromcollogher-Broadford, mainly a hurling club. By the time he finished they were the best senior football club in Limerick. He led Na Piarsaigh to an under-21 football title in Cork when they were renowned as a hurling club and he steered an ailing Lansdowne Rovers to a county junior title a few years before the club was disbanded. Now for more of the same.

"Well as a Kerry man I know better than most how hard it was going to be coming here after Mick O'Dwyer.

He did great things and the players realise that. But I am not aiming to be a replacement; I've my own style and my own plans. It was a tough call to come here and I was offered a number of posts around the place but it wouldn't be fair or correct of me to get into those.

"However I'll be training later tonight and it will be an hour and a half both ways and I told my family and myself that no matter what job I took, that was the limit. So I'm making the maximum commitment. Now I would like to see a return and looking to the future I want to get the most out of this bunch. Like, we are provincial contenders, that is our level. This is a county that's never been beyond an All Ireland quarter-final since the new structures came into place. So first we have to aim to get back there and beyond that at some point in the future."

Brick by brick. Problem is their injury list and that has Kearns more than a little worried about today. Those missing include Noel Garvan, Aidan Fennelly, Gary Kavanagh and Barry Brennan. "We've a long list of guys missing and it makes it even more tough against Wexford.

Put it this way, there's been no problem keeping guys minds from drifting off into the distance and a Dublin Leinster final. It's a great opportunity for both sides because in fairness all the talk has been about Dublin and people are thinking we'll be going out there Sunday playing for a runners-up spot in the province.

"That suits us and Wexford fine and I'm sure they'll be excited about making a breakthrough, especially after producing the football they did in the first half against Louth. We can't say the same and although we were pleased to get past Longford in the quarter-final, as you always are to beat any side by five points in the championship, if we play like that again we don't stand a chance. We'll be well beaten.

Wexford seemed to have uncovered some scoring forwards outside Matty Forde, which was vital for them to take the next step. Now they are ready."

At this stage of their development, Kearns knows Laois must be as well, not just for this challenge but for those that lie ahead. He's already seen too many near-misses back in Limerick.

His latest team have seen far too many in the recent past.