The final whistle of last Monday's All-Ireland club final resonated clearly across Mayo. To many people, Crossmolina's impressive victory was an almost visible breaking of the barrier, a forceful annexation from the crippling weight of All-Ireland defeats which was threatening to become the defining emblem of Mayo football.

"The most striking image for me was after the final kick-out which Kieran McDonald caught and then he was thrusting the ball in the air after the whistle. I lost a minor final there in 1999 so I know what the opposite is like. Just to see the joy on his face made me want to experience the same thing in Croke Park," says James Gill, one of the players on which Mayo's future depends.

While it has always been clearly illogical to suggest that the western county is somehow jinxed when it comes to competing in All-Ireland finals, the freakishly negative string of results have invited an element of paranoia. At the very least, the legacy had an impact on the county's younger players, many of whom spent their formative years witnessing the most galling of Mayo heartbreak stories in the mid-90s. Something had to happen to prove that the streak was not ungovernable and Crossmolina's win has occurred at a time when Mayo's prowess is in the ascendant again.

"You take a genuinely great player like Liam McHale," says Gill, "who played in something like seven All-Ireland finals without a win. That's a tough statistic to consider. It's not something I'd like to go through. But the belief is that it will change. You just have to look at what Liam has achieved with the U-21s. It is painful to think about some of the games the county has endured. People say we had three chances to win an All-Ireland and came away with nothing. It was so important that some Mayo side came along and ended this idea of All-Ireland ghosts or whatever."

The image of the Mayo senior team has been altered fairly radically since the fine team of the Maughan era. Mayo has advanced with real conviction through the league and the squad is openly keen to win the national title. After the 1996 saga, it was perhaps inevitable that the recent home tie against Meath would be identified as the key match.

"Definitely. I think a match between the two teams takes on a momentum of its own. You'd always be keen to play them. Now, I think Sean Boylan has been taking it easy in the league and it will be a different Meath you see in the championship. But to be fair to ourselves, we beat them fairly well that day and they had quite a strong team on paper. But it was important for us to keep winning, that we get into that habit now as a developing squad."

Gill made his championship debut against Sligo last year in what was a damp collective performance that was an apt end to a very pedestrian year for the county. The Westport man headed to Chicago for the summer and heard from a friend about Galway's annihilation of their victors in Markievicz Park.

"I was astonished at the scoreline, yeah, and disappointed that Sligo was not able to give them a closer run. And naturally people came to the conclusion that there was a big gulf between Galway and the rest of Connacht. That was probably a fair assessment at that time. Galway remain a very good team but we like to think we have advanced considerably and it is a good reflection on the province to see all four league semi-finalists from the west.

"We haven't won a league title in Mayo since 1972 and personally, I would love to get a medal. Obviously championship is the be all and end all but why not win this also?"

Mayo just about wriggled out of relegation last year, making the smoothness of this year's campaign all the more notable. As Gill sees it, it was just a matter of small things adding up. An early trip to America allowed new players to become acquainted with one another and Pat Holmes has had sufficient time to put his own stamp on the team.

"You can see the difference in the older players like Kevin Cahill, there is a bit of bite about them at training again. I think the younger players have brought that on to the panel. There is a bit of fearlessness there as well."

There is also an abundance of skill. Gill typifies that and was identified at under age level as one for the future. Also a gifted rugby player, he has asserted himself as a constant presence as wing-forward for Pat Holmes having developed in the sport as a midfield player. As he sees it, it is a healthy time to be embarking on an inter-county career.

"There are a number of positive signs and the better we do in the National League, well, the bigger expectations will be again. I think there will be fierce interest in this Roscommon game. I'm at college in Athlone with Stephen Lohan (Roscommon's full forward) so there has been a fair bit of slagging about Mayo for the double.

"In a way, we are still a young team so not that much is expected from us but already that has begun to change. But we just have to forget about that and try to win this so we can get ourselves back to Croke Park."