Monday morning's All-Ireland SFC draw has thrown up some really interesting quarter-final combinations. Such has been the dominance of the Dubs over the last decade, it's been quite a while since the last eight championship draw has taken preference over my breakfast, but the porridge was well and truly stuck to the bottom of the pot by the time the live RTE radio coverage had concluded.
onnacht champions Galway were first out of the hat and drew possibly the team that all the provincial winners were hoping to avoid, Armagh. Championship favourites Kerry were next out and after a brief false start with Cork, old rivals Mayo were confirmed as their quarter-final opposition. Dublin then filled the gap against Cork, while Derry and surprise packet Clare completed the pairings.
It's difficult to know what way teams and managers are thinking when they get to this stage of the championship. Is it better to get a so-called easy draw in the quarter-final so you're hitting the last four fresh, rested and injury free? Or is it best to come through a tough test against difficult opposition so you're building, or continuing to build, momentum entering the closing stages of the competition?
Derry aside, the other three provincial winners had a relatively straightforward and uneventful passage through their respective domestic championships.
I appreciate Galway's finishes against Mayo and Roscommon were tight, but Padraic Joyce's men were managing the games out after building sizable third-quarter leads.
Kerry and Dublin are, as we've come to accept in recent decades, untested at this stage of the championship. So, who will be the happiest managers sitting down to their cornflakes after this draw?
I think Dessie Farrell, Rory Gallagher and Kieran McGeeney would treat themselves to an extra sprinkling of sugar and be relatively satisfied with Monday morning's outcome.
With no disrespect to Colm Collins or Clare, who've done a magnificent job to get to this stage, put simply, Derry have got the plumb draw of the round.
After a momentous Ulster campaign that saw them defeat the provinces big three (Tyrone, Monaghan and Donegal), Gallagher will be happy to regroup and take stock before a final big push. He's experienced enough to know that the Clare challenge cannot be taken lightly but the Oak Leaf County should have plenty in reserve without putting themselves to the pin of their collars.
Farrell, I'd imagine, will also be reasonably content with drawing Cork. The Na Fianna man is probably still not sure of his best starting XV and another game under the belt will lift their dented confidence even further. The term 'resurgent' is probably a little premature to describe the Dubs' recovery from a poor league campaign but they are a work in progress and their scorecard continues to improve. He will be happy to have avoided Armagh and Mayo.
Meanwhile, McGeeney, I sense, will be the happiest of all at the breakfast bar. His side are now the form team of the championship. That seven-point, first round defeat in Ballybofey back in April is a distant memory as they've now comfortably outgunned Tyrone and Donegal in swashbuckling style over the last fortnight.
Momentum is sometimes a hugely over-analysed and exaggerated part of modern-day sport, but McGeeney will be only disappointed they're not playing Galway this weekend such is the charge his side are currently on.
Make no mistake, Galway are a decent outfit and in Shane Walsh, have arguably the best pound for pound Gaelic footballer in the country at the moment. However, I'm not sure they will be able to deal with Armagh's intensity and all-round attacking game.
Jack O'Connor would likely have preferred an easier passage to the last four. I do expect the Kingdom to get the better of James Horan's Mayo, but it will be the most keenly contested match of the round. Mayo's spirit can never be written off and the bookies give them an outside chance at odds of 3/1, but I think we'll end up with have another classic Kerry/Dublin semi-final in early July.
With most of the big guns either gone from the championship or on the other side of the draw, we're guaranteed that a new team will be in the final for the first time in almost 20 years. My hunch is it will come down to Derry and Armagh in the other semi.
I was so engrossed dissecting the draw afterwards, working out the various permutations and outcomes, I didn't even notice the burnt, crispy bits floating around in my porridge. Looking at the black remnants at the bottom of the bowl, it reminded me of a yarn I heard years ago about a fortune teller somewhere down the far side of Crossmaglen reading tea leaves at the bottom of a teacup!
I wonder if it's a good omen for the Orchard County?
Ulster apart, the championship has been fairly anaemic thus far. I expect that to change in the weeks ahead.