Simple UI Navigation Scripts: These 3 combine to form a pretty solid gamepad-supporting UI

SetFocusByPointer.cs

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;


namespace _project.ui
{
    public class SetFocusByPointer : MonoBehaviour, IPointerEnterHandler, IPointerExitHandler
    {
        private bool _isSelectedByEventSystem => EventSystem.current.currentSelectedGameObject == gameObject;

        public void OnPointerEnter( PointerEventData eventData )
        {
            if(!_isSelectedByEventSystem)
                EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject( gameObject );
        }

        public void OnPointerExit( PointerEventData eventData )
        {
            if(_isSelectedByEventSystem)
                EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject( null );
        }
    }
}

SetFocusedIfNothingSelected.cs

using System;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;
using UnityEngine.InputSystem;


namespace _project.ui
{
    public class SetFocusedIfNothingSelected : MonoBehaviour
    {
        private InputAction _navigateAction;
        private bool _anythingSelected => EventSystem.current.currentSelectedGameObject != null;

        private void Update()
        {
            if ( _navigateAction == null )
            {
                var i = PlayerInput.GetPlayerByIndex( 0 );
                if ( i != null )
                {
                    _navigateAction = i.actions.FindAction( "Navigate" );
                }
            }
            else if ( !_anythingSelected && _navigateAction.ReadValue<Vector2>().magnitude > 0 )
            {
                //Debug.Log( $"Focuser[{name}] acting" );
                EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject( gameObject );
            }
        }
    }
}

SetFocusedOnEnable.cs

using System.Collections;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;
using UnityEngine.UI;


namespace _project.ui
{
    public class SetFocusedOnEnable : MonoBehaviour
    {
        public Selectable selectable;

        private void Reset()
        {
            selectable = GetComponentInChildren<Selectable>();
        }

        private void OnEnable()
        {
            //EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject( selectable.gameObject, null );
            StartCoroutine( SelectContinueButtonLater() );
        }
        IEnumerator SelectContinueButtonLater()
        {
            yield return null;
            EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject(null);
            EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject(selectable.gameObject);
        }
    }
}