He's a keeper! Kilkenny's Dean Mason makes Team of the Year

Kilkenny's Dean Mason has been named as college hurling's top goalkeeper.

The Shamrocks and UL netminder was picked by Electric Ireland as the goalkeeper who stood out from this season’s Higher Education Hurling Championships, and named on the 2023 Rising Stars Hurling Team of the Year.  

In a season filled with stand-out team and individual performances, the 2022 finalists met again in the 2023 Fitzgibbon Cup Final, with Mason and his UL team-mates emerging as the victors and Fitzgibbon Cup champions over University of Galway for the second year running.  

In this year’s Electric Ireland GAA Higher Education Rising Stars 2023 Hurling Team of the Year, Fitzgibbon Cup Champions, UL, lead the way with seven players included, while beaten finalists University of Galway have three representatives on the team. Beaten semi-finalists UCC and SETU Waterford each have two players represented, with one player from MIC Thurles also included on this year’s team.  

The Electric Ireland Higher Education GAA Rising Star Hurling and Football Player of the Year will be announced at the Higher Education awards ceremony on Monday, April 3.

The 2023 Electric Ireland GAA Higher Education Rising Stars Hurling Team of the Year is: 

1. Dean Mason - UL, Shamrocks (Ballyhale) Kilkenny 

2. Eoin Lawless – University of Galway, Athenry, Galway 

3. TJ Brennan – UL, Clarinbridge, Galway 

4. Eoin Roche – UCC, Bride Rovers, Cork 

5. Tiernan Killeen – University of Galway, Loughrea, Galway 

6. Bryan O Mara – UL, Holycross-Ballycahill, Tipperary 

7. Cormac O Brien – UCC, Newtownshandrum, Cork 

8. Brian O Sullivan – UL, Kanturk, Cork 

9. Jack Prendergast – SETU Waterford, Lismore, Waterford 

10. Brian Concannon – University of Galway, Killimordaly, Galway 

11. Gearóid O Connor – UL, Moyne-Templetuohy, Tipperary 

12. Seán Twomey – UL, Courcey Rovers, Cork 

13. Reuben Halloran – SETU Waterford, De La Salle, Waterford 

14. Mikey Kiely – UL, Abbeyside, Waterford 

15. Aaron Ryan – MIC Thurles, Fourmilewater, Waterford