Penalty shoot-outs are remembered for the final kick — the run-up, the strike, the celebration.

What’s often forgotten is the work done before that moment.

Goalkeepers live in the margins of shoot-outs. One save might swing momentum. Two can decide the tie. But once the winning penalty hits the net, their role can quickly fade into the background.

In the Champions Cup, Paul Kilday made sure it didn’t. Two saves under pressure helped carry Pollokshields through — a reminder that shoot-outs are as much about the man in gloves as the one taking the final kick.

📩 Footy Focus — Goalkeeper Quickfire
(Champions Cup | Penalty Shoot-out hero)

Name: Paul Kilday
Club: Pollokshields

Two penalty saves in a shoot-out — what’s going through your head as you step up for the first one?

Seeing if the player is nervous is always on my mind. Watching them walk up to the spot and see how they place the ball tells you how confident they are.

How much of penalties is preparation, and how much is reading the moment in front of you?

It’s a bit of both, I feel preparation is all about talking to yourself before the shootout starts and giving yourself a boost, just tell yourself you’ve got this.

On the reading side of it is again seeing how nervous or anxious the player shooting in front of you is. Just need to see how they look before placing the ball on the spot.

After the first save, do you feel momentum shift your way, or do you reset straight away?

Again, a bit of both. Momentum was there after a strong hand to the ball to push it away from goal and then resetting yourself for the next one as you now have the upper hand.

Goalkeepers can sometimes be forgotten when the winning penalty goes in after a shoot-out like that — does that ever cross your mind, or is it just part of the job?

It’s part of your job for 90/120 mins then onto a tense moment of penalties. I have been on a winning side of saving 3 penalties in a shootout to win the game and the players all run towards myself but if my teammate scores the winner then the credits on them for staying confident to win the game.