HANGING in the hall of John Maughan's house in Castlebar is a very large, ornately framed photograph of a football team. It is the Clare side of 1992 whom he managed to a first Munster title since 1917. After that sensational win over Kerry, Clare progressed to an All Ireland semi final against Dublin.

"I tell the players there's more room on the wall," he says. The players he's referring to are from his own county which he now manages. Even if Mayo were to win an All Ireland, the achievement wouldn't stick out in the history books in the manner of Maughan's exploits in Clare.

In any event, all Mayo have so far done under Maughan is get promoted from Division Three of the National League and win the Connacht title. Tomorrow they face Kerry in the first Bank of Ireland All Ireland football semifinal. Yet, there is an optimism around that would have been unthinkable 12 months ago.

To understand this fully, you need the context. For a few years, Mayo has been a dismal subplot within the sad story of Connacht football. The rise of Ulster has left the western province's continuing failures rather more exposed and for Mayo, who promised a good deal in the 1980s, this decade has been a disaster.

Derek Duggan still plays for Roscommon. His young career to date is probably best remembered for the way he turned Terry Ferguson like a screw and drilled a goal into Meath's net in the 1991 All Ireland semi final. That is not, however, the most far reaching thing he's done.

In the Connacht final five years ago in Castlebar, Duggan, then 19, levelled the match by kicking a 60 metre free. Roscommon beat Mayo in the replay, by a point.

Mayo at the time were rebuilding and manager John O'Mahoney, who had taken the county to the 1989 All Ireland final, had put together a reasonable looking blend of younger and more experienced players. Had Duggan not intervened, O'Mahoney might have been able to achieve something. Instead, he was manoeuvred out of the job later that summer.

The years that followed are well documented disasters. A succession of managers left a legacy of depressed morale, a spectacularly diminished record in Croke Park and a spot in Division Three of the league. In four years Mayo had become a joke.

Maughan's appointment as manager on his return from a 12 month tour of duty with the UN in Cyprus was a start. There had also been a couple of good under 21 sides developed by the herculean under age efforts of former Donegal and Mayo player Martin Carney, which had reached All Ireland finals losing last year to Kerry in a replay. A developing self respect was, and is, in evidence.

KENNETH Mortimer, corner back tomorrow, captained last year's under 21s. "The main benefit from the two under 21 finals was it gave younger players the belief they can compete at the top level. It taught them not to fear anybody, not to sell themselves short.

"Connacht being football's poor relation has a demoralising effect on people. But winning or losing is a complete habit. The way I was schooled, I was never allowed to sell myself short, I've never how would you put it bowed down to anybody and have a tremendous belief in my own ability."

Mayo's progress over the last year has been steady. Out of the third division with a two per cent record, they defeated Meath in a league quarter final before bowing out under strength from injury to eventual winners Derry in the semi final at Croke Park.

If a certain depression set in on the public perception of Mayo's worth in the aftermath of the Derry match and the gulf in standards it seemed to imply, such thoughts didn't bother the players, according to Mortimer.

"In the eyes of the general public, it might have (reduced expectations). Within the team, I think it was actually the catalyst in the general progression of the team. It has worked tremendously in our favour.

"We had come through Division Three, not very overwhelmingly, and we didn't set the world alight with our football. But we came through a tough division, undefeated, and then had a brilliant win over Meath. The defeat (by Derry) brought a sense of realism, brought home the amount of hard work needed in the months ahead."

Another thing accomplished by losing to Derry was the lowering of Mayo's profile. Deeply unimpressive in the win over the championship's worst team, London, Maughan's side was able to enjoy the luxury of relatively unnoticed progress. Both Roscommon and defending champions Galway were beaten with late bursts.

With Kerry's equally young and inexperienced side having emerged from Munster, Mayo are not only unexpectedly in the semi final but there with a realistic enough chance of doing well.

At the training session in Castlebar last Tuesday, the team looked fit and in good shape. While the one injury concern, David Brady, was put through his paces separately before being ruled out, the rest of the panel worked away.

One observer pointed out that for the first time in a while, the county panellists were standing out in club championship matches because their general fitness levels were so high.

The situation Maughan and his selectors, Peter Forde and Tommy O'Malley, inherited last autumn wasn't promising and the first thing to be done was the repairing of confidence and self esteem.

It had become a shambles," says Maughan. "They'd lost their focus lost their nerve. Players had no ambition. No doubt about it, there was a huge confidence crisis. Since then, we've played a lot of challenge games, tournament games and that. We're unbeaten in 26 out of 31. That's not a bad record and from a confidence point of view, has to be good.

IT'S back now, the confidence. They know they can go out tomorrow against anyone.

When we came in initially, there was good reaction to me getting involved at the time. They were hungry, they wanted to work. There was a group of guys there that said we have an opportunity here now. Let's get the thing up and moving.

"All winter it was terrific, (we) kicked a bit of ass but got the senior guys involved in the big decision making. A lot of older guys were there, and it was to try and get them involved in goal setting and what they wanted to do."

Byrne's pub on Main Street is one of those establishments where the conversation can refine, strengthen or indeed debunk the foot balling theories of the interested visitor. The owner Mick Byrne is chairman of Castlebar Mitchels.

Optimism on these premises is to be respected and there is hope. At the centre of it all is the universally high opinion of Maughan. It is mentioned that he could be seen out cycling around Castlebar on the morning of the Connacht final, organising his thoughts Maughan who got Clare to beat Kerry Maughan who stood between a well fancied Galway and the retention of their title.

Unusually for such a volatile and easily whipped up football county, the public don't appear to have rushed in on the act. In the words of local journalist, Stephen O'Grady of Mid West Radio. "There's more of a buzz among football people than the general public".

That less ostentatious but more reliable indicator best sums up Mayo's progress over the last to months.