'The pressure in a shootout isn’t on me, I find it quite a cool moment' - Patton

What goes through the head of a goalkeeper when it all comes down to a penalty shootout and there’s an Ulster title on the line? 

Everything is on the line. After 90 minutes of end-to-end football, the scoreline is locked at 0-20 apiece. You talk about pressure as St Eunan’s man goalkeeper Shaun Patton makes the lonely walk to the O’Duffy terrace goals. Try and imagine the mindset. 

“You love them intense moments like a penalty shootout, I think it’s class,” Patton told Donegal Live.  

“The pressure isn’t on me, it’s on the kickers. I actually find it to be quite a cool moment, yes, it can be a tense atmosphere, but all I was thinking was, just try and save one penalty and trust the kickers to slot them home, and that worked today.” 

The final score ended 6-5 in the shootout as Donegal clinched their first Ulster crown since 2019 in the most dramatic fashion against Armagh in Clones. 

It was pain for the Orchard County once again after losing to Derry on penalties 12 months ago. 

We may not have expected Patton to be the defining hero of the afternoon, it was a match that saw scores kicked from the heavens, but on the weekend when the northern lights lit up the sky in Donegal, it was the St Eunan’s man who was the shining star in Clones. 

With 27 kickouts and only losing one of them in 90 minutes, Patton’s match fitness and steady mind was never in question. 

“At the end of the day, in a final, results are all that matters,” he said. “It was a serious battle, and I mean a serious battle. Armagh really put it up to us and at one stage they went four-points up. In Ulster, it can be hard to pull those scorelines back, so it was just an unbelievable performance from the boys out the field. 

“When you’re in the heat of the game, it can be sometimes hard to pick up on certain things, we probably won’t be happy with our defensive performance, but that’s something we can look back on the next day, but today was all about getting the result. 

“Armagh probably scored a little bit easier than we did, so that’s something we will have to double-down on and look at. Moving forward into the group stage, that’s a quick turnaround, so we’ll have to change our focus for that, but we’ll enjoy the victory and the celebrations but then we’ll get our heads down and get ready for Tyrone.” 

Having missed the Ulster semi-final through injury after being replaced by Gavin Mulreany in Celtic Park last month in the Ulster quarter-final, Patton felt he needed to make a statement on his return, and with it all coming down to penalties he knew his time was now.  

He felt no pressure, for him it was sheer focus. Guess correctly and execute. 

“The pressure is never on the goalkeeper in penalties, the pressure is on the forwards to score,” Patton admitted. “In goals, we’re not expected to save too many. I was disappointed with their fifth penalty, and I probably should’ve saved it, but thankfully the next one paid off and I got to it. 

“I say thankfully because if we lost the game from the fifth penalty which slid underneath me, I don’t think I would’ve been sleeping easily for a few weeks, but all that matters now is that we won, and fair play to the lads for the composure they showed taking the penalties, it was fantastic.  

“We haven’t been working on penalties too much, that’s why I was unbelievably impressed with how composed the lads were. They were slotting them in the bottom corner, left, right, and centre, and Blaine Hughes is a great goalkeeper too, so thankfully we came out the right side today.”