Can Monaghan answer the big question on biggest stage?

Questions. The adage is they are only easy if you know the answer.

Well for the week that's in it, observing others getting grilled in public and the consequences of them having the requisite answers (or not) appears quite the national pastime.

Maybe that’s where sports, particularly huge weekends like this one, have part of their fascination.

In big games teams are being asked questions and not just by their opposition. The whole country will have their doubts and queries about a team and the players within it. Take Monaghan this weekend. As a team, they’ve shown themselves able to compete and beat the very best over many years now.

Galway, Mayo, Tyrone, Dublin and Kerry have all come up short against the Farney men. But only in the league or provincial championship. Never a big game in Croke Park. In terms of this weekend that’s the question they must answer – can they take the next and biggest step of all?

Monaghan resent being talked of as the impressive plucky underdog. The platitudes about a small team able to consistently punch above their weight have long worn thin. To be honest, the platitudes are genuinely given.

Monaghan’s achievements for nigh on 20 years are seriously impressive and a great source of hope for many teams. Despite this, they are not talked of in the same way as top teams. Why? Because they have never done it when it really counts. That might sound harsh, but all such questions are.

Take Tyrone, we weren’t made of the right stuff to ever win an All-Ireland until we did. Now we can’t do back-to-back and the 2021 All-Ireland was a fluke. Harsh maybe, but until proven otherwise the questions stand. Once answered, they disappear.

I remember Glen being laughed at by other Derry clubs because all their