The shrill whistle of the referee, the agonised shriek of the offender, the premature scream of the aggressor, the roar of the crowd.
PENALTY!
Alone a pair of characters shall stand. A potential hero, or perhaps a villain. Twelve yards will separate a contest that is not merely physical, but psychological.
The crowd, initially exultant in volcanic noise, may suddenly hush as a second whistle signals the event, a singular action in a 90-minute whirl of hustle and bustle where time almost stands as still as the twin combatants.
There are 22 players on the field, thousands in the stands and hundreds of thousands more watching on TV but, for a few seconds, the spotlight shines on just two people.
Courtney Brosnan knows this feeling well. As she awaits a two-legged Euro 2025 play-off to decide Ireland’s tournament fate, she can draw on the memory bank of a famous night in Hampden Park.
Amber Barrett’s goal may have secured Ireland’s maiden World Cup berth in October 2022, but without Brosnan’s superbly deflected 14th-minute penalty from Caroline Weir, the initially buoyant Scots could have scripted an entirely different outcome indeed. Barrett may have provided the final elation but the first incision of Scottish deflation was defined by Brosnan’s theatrics.
A moment of ultimately profound consequence.
Not that the hero can ever afford to contemplate its magnitude.
“I think, when I look back, you’re 100 per cent in the moment,” says the Everton netminder, who has already replicated these heroics in blue this term, saving a hat-trick of spot-kicks in a League Cup shoot-out last month.
“For me personally, you don’t realise until after the game is over, until after you’ve qualified that that just happened.
“You make a save in the game or you make a penalty save in the game, you’re like, ‘well that feels nice’, but you’re like, ‘OK we’re only 20 minutes into the game or whatever it is, we still have this amount of time to go’.
“So I feel like as footballers, especially as goalkeepers, as a goalkeeper I’ve always been taught you have to focus on the task and what you’re doing in that moment,” says Brosnan.
“I see the game broken down into little moments and that little task that I have to do. You’re not really thinking too far in advance.”
But when the whistle blows, where does she go?
“It kind of takes a while for the decision to be given or for whoever is getting the ball to get ready, so usually I take that chance to go over, get some water and get my thoughts together.
“Typically I’ve already watched some clips or been given some information about who is most likely to take the penalty, what their favourite side is and stuff.
“So I do that, have a think about it and then I have a little bit of a routine with touching the crossbar, walking along the line and getting myself ready for that moment.
“I see the kicker line up and kind of just go off a gut instinct and a bit of how they are lining, and the data you’ve been given. Then I just go from there.”
The blizzard of information can conspire to contradict the quest for inner calm. The mind that is at once full of thoughts needs to expel them to concentrate fully on the moment.
A player may normally go left but not always; some alter direction depending on the scoreline, the timeline, or even their own mood.
Intelligence versus instinct. A battle of will, as much as skill.
“I think it’s a balance,” she agrees. “Obviously if you have someone and they’ve taken 25 penalties and 24 of them have gone this way, of course you are really leaning towards that. But I think you use the information you are given with that gut instinct or the cues you are reading from the kicker, how they are lining up and things like that.
“In that moment I am, OK, everything I am seeing is either lining up towards what I’ve been told or not. And then in that moment, that’s kind of when I make my decision.
“If I’m going to go with all the information I’ve been given? Or if I’m seeing something else in the moment, then you kind of just trust that and go with your gut.”
Brosnan is a woman for every moment, not merely one.
She was required at other times in Hampden and, though Everton are in the mire this term, her exploits in a derby win and a 0-0 draw against Arsenal may prove the difference between unconscionable relegation and WSL safety.
That Hampden Park crossroads was as crucial for Brosnan as it was for the country, erasing the dark memories of the error that had denied Ireland the chance to go to the last European Championships.
Now, as Friday’s first leg of Ireland’s Euro play-off against Wales looms into view, she is hungry for more.
“You don’t want to be the team that just qualifies for one major tournament, I don’t think anyone wants that.
“You want to be doing that consistently. So there is always that thing where you are continuing to push forward and continuing to write history, write stories into your legacy.”
Ireland would prefer not to have to rely upon her but she will be ready for any eventuality if required.
History is on her side as Ireland plot another significant step towards another major tournament.