Mabon is crowned this season's king of shinty
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Kingussie lynchpin Robert Mabon was named shinty’s national player of the year at the Mowi National Awards in Fort William on Saturday.
Mabon was a key part of the Red and Blues’ side which won the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup, the cottages.com MacTavish Cup and the Mowi Premiership title during 2023.
The towering full back has been a rock in a Kingussie defence which lost only 13 goals over their 18 Mowi Premiership games.
Mabon’s performances were also rewarded with his first Scotland start in the shinty / hurling international against Ireland in Newry. Kingussie manager Iain Borthwick said: “Robert has been exceptional for us this season. He’s so committed, and I think he has only missed one training session all year.
“He’s played full back, buckshee back and even full centre for us this season and his stick-work is unbelievable for someone so tall.
“He has a tremendous reach and must be very hard to play against and he has pace when he needs it.
“In a way, he reminds me of Hamish Robertson who used to play for Newtonmore.
“You would think you were getting away from Hamish, but he would stretch in and poke the ball away at the last minute and Robert is the same.
“The defence was superb in 2022 and they carried that forward into the season just gone by. Robert Mabon was a stand-out though, as was Rory MacKeachan to be fair, but no matter who played there, they were all excellent.
“The Macaulay final was their only blip but they sorted that out and more than made up for it in the Scottish final.
“This comes on the back of Roddy (Young) winning the same award last year so that can only be good for the club.”
