Former Limerick manager and Kerry footballer Liam Kearns thinks his county should edge this weekend's All-Ireland semi-final but only came to this view after hearing about Cork's last-minute injury woes.

"My heart was saying Kerry and my head Cork. But since the news of Derek Kavanagh's injury came through, my heart and head have come together. It's a big blow for Cork, who have been the most impressive side of the season so far at midfield.

"Nicholas Murphy has been more spectacular but Kavanagh's all-round game and work rate has been excellent.

"Murphy's better winning ball in the air but Kavanagh does more on the ground.

"Cork were the most impressive team in the quarter-finals. How good Galway were in the end is another question but a comeback like that must have done a lot for their confidence."

Cork have made extraordinary improvement from 12 months ago, when the county ended up as one of Fermanagh's string of celebrity victims. That rise in fortunes has seen Billy Morgan's team make a close match of the Munster final and in one of the best matches of the year, bounce back from a seemingly terminal situation against Galway in the quarter-finals.

Kearns has been able to view the championship from afar since stepping down as manager of Limerick footballers last month after five years in charge during which time the county came agonisingly close to winning a first Munster title in over 100 years. To date he hasn't been as impressed by Kerry as he was a year ago.

"Kerry have been very stagnant. They've got this far with a certain level of performance without showing signs of improvement. Experience got them through against us, and Cork and even against Mayo but they haven't shown the same fluidity."

A year ago Kerry stuttered for much of the championship before clicking into form at this stage with a comfortable win over Derry followed by their best display in the final. Kearns isn't sure the same will happen this year.

He compares the expectation of improvement and similar views before last week's extraordinary hurling semi-final, when it was assumed Kilkenny would find their best form.

"I think if they get to the final it'll be a fair achievement. Players haven't been going that well. It's a bit like last week. Everyone was expecting Kilkenny to go up a gear but when Galway put on the pressure the gears weren't there."

One of Kearns's concerns about next Sunday was whether Kerry's focus would be disrupted by thoughts of an All-Ireland final and the twin prospects of retaining the All-Ireland for the first time since - coincidentally - Cork managed the feat 16 years ago and avenging one of the recent defeats by Ulster's best teams, Armagh and Tyrone.

"If they do get there they'll be hard to beat. The ultimate prize is to win back-to-back All-Irelands so it will be interesting to see if they get over Cork. It's a match I think Kerry just want to get behind them. But if Derek Kavanagh had been playing I would have been very worried.

"They felt last year that they would have to play a Northern team to win an All-Ireland but that didn't happen. For some players this is an eighth semi-final in nine years. That's a proud record and a lot of work. If they get through to the final and beat an Ulster team - and realistically it would be either Armagh or Tyrone - they would feel that they'd nothing left to do."

Overall, the season, Kearns feels, is tilting toward Armagh.

"Armagh made the biggest statement of all with that performance against Laois. That 15 games in a row unbeaten and for a team to take the battering they took and still win as easily as they did means that their confidence must be sky high."