Introduced in 1887 as the Clare Hurling Championship, it was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to senior-ranking club teams. The championship has gone through a number of changes throughout the years, including the use of a round robin, before reverting to a straight knockout format.
In its current format, the Clare Senior Hurling Championship begins once the Clare senior hurling team have concluded their All-Ireland Championship campaign, with seventeen club teams competing in the championship. Six rounds of games are played, culminating with the final match at Cusack Park in October or November that year. The winners of the Clare Senior Hurling Championship qualify for the subsequent Munster Senior Club Hurling Championship, which begins immediately afterwards.
The competition has been won by twenty-three clubs, nineteen of which have won it more than once. Newmarket-on-Fergus are the most successful club in the championship's history, with twenty-three titles.
Feakle are the reigning champions and current holders of the Canon Hamilton Cup. In 2024, they defeated Sixmilebridge by 1-17 to 0-13 to bridge a thirty six year gap from 1988 to win their seventh title.
History
Early beginnings
Following the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884, new rules for gaelic football and hurling were drawn up and published in the United Irishman newspaper. Over the following three years, county committees were established, with the Clare County Board holding their inaugural meeting on 14 February 1887. The inaugural championship in 1887, saw twenty-two clubs competing, with Smith O'Brien's, Killaloe claiming their first and only title. Since then the championship title has been awarded every year except on nine occasions. No championship took place for a five-year period between 1891 and 1895 or in 1901. The early years of the championship was dominated by Tulla winning eight titles, two of which were won by Carahan, who later became the one club. O'Callaghan's Mills (5), Ennis Dalcassians (4), Kilnamona (3), Newmarket-on-Fergus (2), and Scariff (2) were the only other teams to win multiple titles before the championship was suspended from 1920 to 1922 due to civil unrest during the Irish War of Independence.
In 2007 Tulla ended a seventy-four year wait to win their first title since 1933. The following year Clonlara bridged an eighty-nine year gap from 1919 when then won their second county title. There has also been a number of first-time champions since the turn of the millennium with Ballyea, Cratloe, and Crusheen all having won multiple titles since 2009. Since 2015, Ballyea (4) and Sixmilebridge (4) have shared every title between them but have never met in the county final.
Fixtures in the opening rounds of the championship are usually played at a neutral venue that is deemed halfway between the participating teams. Some of the more common venues include O'Garney Park in Sixmilebridge, Dr Daly Park in Tulla, and Shannon. Cusack Park in Ennis also hosts several double-headers in the early rounds of the championship.
Final
The final is regularly played at Cusack Park in Ennis. Named after the founder of the GAA, Michael Cusack, the ground had an original capacity of about 28,000, but following a 2011 safety review, the certified capacity was reduced to 14,864. In 2015 a major renovation started, this included the demolition and re-erection of the main stand and construction of a new entrance/exit at the north side of the stadium. Once completed in late 2017 the official capacity was increased to 19,000
The winning team is presented with the Canon Hamilton Cup. A native of Clonlara, Michael Hamilton (1894-1969) was educated at Clonlara National School and St. Flannan's College in Ennis. He was ordained to the priesthood in Maynooth University in 1919 and later became a professor at St. Flannan's College. In 1922 he became one of the first chaplains in the Irish Army. Hamilton was a noted hurler in his youth and was chairman of the Clare County Board for over twenty-five years. He died while attending the Newmarket-on-Fergus and Clarecastle county final replay on 31 August 1969.
Brian Boru's were another temporary amalgamation that was composed of the Bodyke, Killanena and Tulla clubs in 1975. They competed together at senior level when they were all competing at either intermediate or junior level individually. Brian Boru's won the 1975 senior county title defeating Éire Óg, Ennis in the final.
St Brendan's were an temporary amalgamation of the Kilmaley and Doora-Barefield clubs in 1979. St Brendan's contested the 1979 county final, losing out to Sixmilebridge.
