If any further confirmation were required that the Ulster senior football championship is far and away the jewel in the GAA’s Championship crown, then it was surely provided when the draws for next year’s provincial competitions were made in Dublin last night.

Like an arrow from a crossbow, the plum first-round tie hit the target – Tyrone v Armagh, a mouth-watering clash between the reigning All Ireland champions and the current Ulster kingpins.

Nor is this to be the only course on what is the most sumptuous of northern menus. Lob in Derry v Monaghan, also in the first round, and an intriguing preliminary round meeting between Down and Fermanagh, and it can be clearly seen that Ulster deals only in top-class fare.

With Cavan due to meet the winners of the latter clash and Antrim facing Donegal in the last of the quarter-finals, Ulster will certainly hold the spotlight when peak summer comes round again.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, currently recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident on Tuesday morning, knows that his side will be facing formidable foes in Armagh who may have slipped up against Wexford in the All Ireland quarter-finals but who have nonetheless claimed seven of the last ten Ulster crowns.

No wonder orchard county boss Peter McDonnell is already acknowledging that his side’s confrontation with the Sam Maguire Cup holders will be “our ultimate test”. And, in an ironic twist, Armagh are now likely to be denied home advantage – again! - for the tie because the superbly refurbished Athletic Grounds can still only accommodate upwards on 20,000 fans!

“Everyone will want to see this tie, I suppose, so we will have to go where we are sent. But we will be up for it. Championship football is what players live for and they come no bigger than this,” says the Mullaghbawn school principal.

It’s likely that the Ulster Council will move the fixture to Clones although if Croke Park were to be made available it would mean that 50,000-60,000 followers would see the action.

New Derry boss Damien Cassidy will oversee his county’s attempt to atone for their lapse against Monaghan in the All Ireland qualifiers this year when the sides meet again at the quarter-final stage of the provincial series.

Cassidy is thus offered a huge incentive to rekindle Derry’s championship credibility but Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney, having taken some time out before deciding to continue for another year, only arrived at this conclusion because he feels his team can go the distance in ’09.

“I think we have enough experience and skill now as well as the attitude and real desire to succeed,” he maintains.

With Kerry and Cork lumped on one side of the Munster draw, there is now the opportunity for Clare, Tipperary or Limerick to reach the provincial final, potentially against one of the ‘Big Two’

And it’s in Leinster also that the other ‘Big Two’ will go head to head with a meeting of Meath and Dublin in the quarter-finals – a pairing that has added considerable draw to the provincial programme.

Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare side find themselves pitted against Offaly in the first round with the winners due to meet Wexford, this year’s beaten finalists, in the quarter-final.

And in Connacht, the Mickey Moran-John Morrison management partnership will sample their first taste of championship action with Leitrim when the county take on Roscommon, now managed by Fergal O’Donnell, at the semi-final stage.