With an interesting set of qualifier ties to be decided in just under a fortnight, the weekend's big championship winner has expressed his satisfaction at avoiding the outside track this year.
Séamus McEnaney, boss of Monaghan, who produced an excellent display to defeat Derry and reach a first Ulster final since 1988, said his team had had their hearts set on championship progress all year.
"The qualifiers were brilliant for us and we served our time in 2005 when we got four matches in a row and played in Croke Park three times at a stage when we hadn't played there for 10 or 15 years. But we would have set our stall out this time that we wanted to reach the Ulster final."
Looking back on three years of progress, McEnaney picked out some milestones: "Getting promotion and winning Division Two in 2005 was a big achievement for us. Results the following season mightn't have been good, but performances were.
"We beat Dublin in Parnell Park, lost by a point to Kerry, by two to Tyrone and it was a serious experience for us. Division One football helped us progress. Even if we were back in Division Two this year we still won seven in a row."
Asked if having Armagh, Donegal and Tyrone on the other side of the draw had been an encouragement, he replied, "There's no easy side of the draw in Ulster. It's always hard."
Meanwhile, the big match of the first-round qualifiers, Armagh v Derry, is the only fixture definitely going to a neutral venue, though it may be joined on a double by Fermanagh v Wexford should Wexford lose Sunday's Leinster semi-final to Laois. If Laois are the opponents the match is scheduled for Enniskillen.
Derry and Armagh met two years ago in the championship, Armagh winning then by 1-11 to 0-10.
Other familiar pairings include Roscommon v Kildare. The pair played out a memorable fourth round tie in 2003, the Connacht side winning by 1-18 to 0-19 after extra-time in Portlaoise.
Mayo beat Cavan by 0-11 to 0-8 two years ago in Hyde Park in the fourth round of the qualifiers.
Down and Meath haven't met in championship since the 1991 All-Ireland final, which marked the beginning of Ulster's football renaissance, leading to seven Sam Maguires in 16 years.
Of course, Longford and Westmeath met more recently than anyone with a Leinster championship clash last May 13th in Pearse Park.
This time Longford have to travel to take on their neighbours, who haven't played at all since that day.
Meanwhile, the Leinster Council has said it is awaiting the referee's report on the Carlow v Louth minor football semi-final, during which a brawl broke out late in the match. Three players received red cards during the match.
Finally, Stephen O'Neill has suffered yet another setback in his frustrating bid to get back to full fitness. The Tyrone attacker suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury while training with the county squad.
