John Maughan made the decision to step down as Mayo manager in the aftermath of last Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Cork. The decision brings to an end a four-year stint in which he brought the county from Division Three of the NFL to three Connacht titles and two All-Ireland finals in four years.

"It was inevitable really," he says, "and I had convinced myself after Sunday and didn't want to leave it too long because it will take a while for the county board to organise a new manager. After a while you feel like you're flogging a dead horse. We were always capable of raising our game for one or two big performances a year, but we were never able to make the real break through.

"I was always convinced that 1996 was our best chance. We had the element of surprise, worked hard, and had terrific self-belief - even though we blew a six-point lead both days - and it was the one year looking back that I felt we had a great chance. We were very unlucky with the ball bouncing over the bar in the drawn match and conceding a penalty and a sloppy goal in the replay."

After deposing All-Ireland champions Galway in last month's Connacht final, hopes in the county were high that this year might be a chance to make good the promise of previous years. Maughan shared the optimism.

"I did think that we might do it this year but in the event, the younger guys didn't play on the day. But we were beaten in a number of areas. I've no problem being beaten by a better side but I would naturally have been happier if we had played up to our potential."

Serial shortcomings up front dogged his years in charge and even last weekend, according to Maughan, the lack of punch in attack effectively undermined the team's chances.

"We have always been shy of a couple of quality players. That was the reason although people pointed and said that Aidan Higgins should have been taken off. It wasn't about Aidan Higgins being a bad footballer - he's not, he's a good footballer who's taken a bit of a pounding in the west since the weekend. If we had another forward, one guy with a real killer touch in 1996 or 1997, we would have won one of those All-Irelands."

In his mid-30s, Maughan has plenty of time for a second stint in charge of the county team at some stage in the future but he isn't interested in taking on another county.

"It's hard to speculate on what might happen in the future and hard to say that I'd get involved again but it would only be my own county that I'd be interested in managing, particularly now that I'm living here."

With no obvious successor on the horizon, Maughan hopes for continuity so that the positive aspects of the current Mayo team can be built on. In the meantime he "will probably" continue to involve himself "at some level" of football but will miss the inter-county involvement which, with only three years' break, has occupied him for nearly 20 years.

"I love football, the involvement and I'm kind of sad now. I won't be mingling with the players as much and I was involved with a very fine bunch of people. I'll miss getting out on a winter's evening and Saturday morning and the craic at training and on League journeys. But I'll concentrate on the domestic front and work for a while now."