The Kilkenny county hurling team represents Kilkenny in hurling and is governed by Kilkenny GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, and the National Hurling League. Historically, Kilkenny is the most successful team at senior level.
Kilkenny's home ground is Nowlan Park, Kilkenny. The team's manager is Derek Lyng.
The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 2025, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 2015 and the National League in 2021.
History Kilkenny is the most successful county team at senior level in the history of the game of hurling. Kilkenny has won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (SHC) 36 times and has won the provincial Leinster Senior Hurling Championship (SHC) on 75 occasions, as of 2023.
1887–1922: Early years
1922–1947: Beginning of the modern era
Kilkenny won a sixteenth Leinster SHC title in 1922 before meeting Tipperary in the 1922 All-Ireland SHC final. Tipperary had a three-point lead with three minutes remaining, but Kilkenny scored two goals to secure victory. It would be 45 years before Kilkenny would beat Tipperary in the championship again. Further Leinster titles soon followed. Kilkenny faced Cork in the 1926 All-Ireland SHC final at a snow-covered Croke Park, with Cork winning.
The 1930s was one of Kilkenny's most successful decades, book-ended by . The 1930s saw Kilkenny compete with Limerick to become "team of the decade". Kilkenny won the Leinster SHC title, before meeting Cork in the 1931 All-Ireland SHC final. At half-time Cork led. However, Kilkenny fought back to secure a draw. The replay saw Lory Meagher give one of his most outstanding displays on the hurling field. Once again Cork led at half-time. However, Kilkenny fought back to force a second draw. Meagher did not play in the third game and Cork won by seven points.
Kilkenny qualified for the 1932 All-Ireland SHC final. The opponent was Clare, surprise winner of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship (SHC). Kilkenny won by a goal to claim a first All-Ireland SHC title in a decade. The following year Kilkenny were in a third successive title decider, this time against Limerick. Once again, the game was a close affair; however, Kilkenny won to seal back-to-back All-Ireland SHC titles.
Kilkenny regained the Leinster SHC title before lining out in the 1935 All-Ireland SHC final, Limerick again the opponent. Kilkenny won a close game by a single point. Kilkenny and Limerick had another match in the 1936 All-Ireland SHC final. Limerick trounced Kilkenny by 5–6 to 1–5. The following year Kilkenny qualified for the 1937 All-Ireland SHC final, a third consecutive decider. The opponent, Tipperary, won by seventeen points. Two years later, Kilkenny qualified for the 1939 All-Ireland SHC final. On the day that the Second World War broke out, Kilkenny played Cork at Croke Park. Both sides were level throughout much of the game, the climax of which was played in a fierce thunderstorm. In the dying seconds, Terry Leahy scored the winning point for Kilkenny. Leahy's team next qualified for the 1940 All-Ireland SHC final, Kilkenny's fifth decider in six years. On this occasion an ageing Limerick team faced an ageing Kilkenny team, but Limerick won.
Forced to withdraw from the championship in the early 1940s because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the county, Kilkenny regained the Leinster SHC title in 1943, but lost the 1943 All-Ireland SHC semi-final to Antrim, in . Two years later, Kilkenny faced Tipperary in the 1945 All-Ireland SHC final. The Munster men led by a large margin at half-time; Kilkenny fought back, but it was not enough to deny Tipp.
Kilkenny qualified for 1946 All-Ireland SHC final, with Cork the opponent. Both sides traded the lead several times during the first half; however, in the second half Cork scored five goals to deny Kilkenny for a second consecutive decider. A Cork–Kilkenny rematch took place in the 1947 All-Ireland SHC final, a game many describe as . Cork aimed to win a sixth All-Ireland SHC title in seven years, while Kilkenny wanted to avoid becoming the first team to lose three consecutive All-Ireland SHC finals. While Kilkenny led for much of the game, Cork scored two late goals that nearly won the match. Terry Leahy again scored the winning point for Kilkenny, to give the county its thirteenth All-Ireland SHC title.
1947–1969: Lean years The 1947 All-Ireland SHC title ushered in a lean period for Kilkenny hurling that lasted for over a decade. Kilkenny did not win another Leinster SHC title until 1950, losing to Tipperary in the 1950 All-Ireland SHC final, as the Munster men completed the second leg of a famous three-in-a-row. Three years later, Kilkenny won the 1953 Leinster SHC title. However, Galway won the 1953 All-Ireland SHC semi-final. Four years later, Kilkenny won the 1957 Leinster SHC title. The subsequent All-Ireland SHC final was the first championship meeting between Kilkenny and Waterford. The men from the Déise led with fifteen minutes left in the match. However, Kilkenny fought back to win by 4–10 to 3–12.
Kilkenny retained the Leinster Cup in 1958, but – in a change to the format of the championship – lost to Tipperary in the 1958 All-Ireland SHC semi-final. A third consecutive Leinster SHC title followed in 1959. However, the 1958 All-Ireland SHC final against Waterford ended in a draw. The replay saw a young Eddie Keher make his debut, though Waterford won the game. Victory in the 1961–62 National Hurling League gave Kilkenny the impetus to win another Leinster SHC title in 1963. Waterford fought back from an 11-point deficit in the 1963 All-Ireland SHC final, but Kilkenny won by two points. Victory in the 1964 Leinster SHC final allowed Kilkenny a straight passage to the 1964 All-Ireland SHC final, with the team to retain the title. However, Tipperary hammered Kilkenny off the field with a fourteen-point victory. Two years later, Kilkenny won the 1965–66 National Hurling League. This was followed by another Leinster SHC title and an appearance in the 1966 All-Ireland SHC final. Kilkenny, favourite again, faced a youthful Cork side, and lost. Kilkenny won the 1967 Leinster SHC title before lining out in the 1967 All-Ireland SHC final, a fourth decider of the decade. An ageing Tipperary team provided the opposition; however, Kilkenny scored goals at vital times and won the game. This was Kilkenny's first championship victory against Tipperary since 1923.
1969–1979: Team of Keher, Larkin, Skehan... The Kilkenny hurling teams from 1969 until 1975 featured such players as Eddie Keher, Dick O'Hara, Ollie Walsh, Noel Skehan, Frank Cummins, Fan Larkin and Pat Henderson. Kilkenny wrested the Leinster SHC title back from Wexford in 1969 and qualified for the All-Ireland SHC decider against Cork. After 1966's unexpected defeat the Leinster men sought revenge, with the game ending in Kilkenny's favour by a scoreline of 2–15 to 2–9. Wexford recaptured the Leinster SHC title in 1970. However, Kilkenny bounced back, with a team that won five consecutive Leinster SHC titles between 1971 and 1975. The team also made five consecutive All-Ireland SHC final appearances during those years, a record which stood until 2011.
Kilkenny faced Tipperary in the 1971 All-Ireland SHC final, the first decider broadcast in colour by RTÉ. Eddie Keher scored a record 2 goals and 11 points; however, he ended on the losing side, Tipperary winning by a scoreline of 5–17 to 5–14. The 1972 All-Ireland SHC final was the only 80-minute decider between Kilkenny and Cork. Cork – having been in firm control of the second half and eight points ahead – lost the game by seven points, a fifteen-point turnaround. Kilkenny qualified for the 1973 All-Ireland SHC final, meeting Limerick at that stage for the first time since 1940. Injury, illness and emigration saw a depleted Kilkenny team lose its status as the All-Ireland SHC title holder. A rematch in the 1974 All-Ireland SHC final led to a Kilkenny win. Limerick acquired an early lead, but Kilkenny's goal power secured a 12-point win. In the 1975 All-Ireland SHC final, Kilkenny met a Galway side that had defeated Cork in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final. Galway led at half-time; the Kilkenny men fought back and secured another 12-point victory.
By the time Kilkenny won its next Leinster SHC title in 1978, the great team of the early 1970s was breaking up. An ageing Kilkenny side was unable to compete in the 1978 All-Ireland SHC final with a Cork team that won its third consecutive title. 1979 saw an injection of new blood into the team, and Kilkenny won a seventh Leinster SHC title of the decade. Kilkenny then met – and defeated – Galway in the 1979 All-Ireland SHC final, .
1979–1998: The 'double-double' The early 1980s saw Offaly emerge as a new force in Leinster. Kilkenny fought back by winning the 1981–82 National Hurling League and 1982 Leinster SHC titles. Christy Heffernan's two goals in a 40-second spell gave Kilkenny a victory over Cork in the subsequent All-Ireland SHC final. In 1983, Kilkenny completed what they call 'the double-double', winning back-to-back League, Leinster and All-Ireland SHC honours. Kilkenny once again defeated Cork in the 1983 All-Ireland SHC final. But expectations of winning three consecutive titles were dashed in the 1984 Leinster SHC.
Two years later, Kilkenny won the 1985–86 National Hurling League, before reclaiming the 1986 Leinster SHC title from Offaly, although the team lost to Galway in the 1986 All-Ireland SHC semi-final. 1987 saw Kilkenny retain the Leinster SHC title, before lining out in that year's All-Ireland SHC decider, where Galway won a low-scoring encounter. The next three years saw Kilkenny once again cast out into the hurling wilderness. Former goalkeeper Ollie Walsh took over as manager at the turn of the decade. The 1989–90 National Hurling League title was followed by the 1990 Leinster SHC title and an appearance in the 1991 All-Ireland SHC final, Tipperary defeating Kilkenny, twenty years on from their previous meeting, to win the title. Kilkenny retained the Leinster SHC title in 1992, before lining out against Cork in the 1992 All-Ireland SHC final. Though playing into a strong wind in the first half, the team emerged as winner by a scoreline of 3–10 to 1–12. A third consecutive Leinster SHC title followed in 1993, before a third consecutive All-Ireland final appearance. On that occasion Kilkenny retained the Liam MacCarthy Cup by a margin of five points.
Offaly and Wexford dominated the Leinster SHC for the next four years, though Kilkenny won the 1994–95 National Hurling League title.
Nickey Brennan managed the Kilkenny senior hurlers for two seasons in the mid-1990s. His successor Kevin Fennelly led his team to a Leinster SHC title in 1998, at the expense of Offaly. But Offaly then defeated Kilkenny in the 1998 All-Ireland SHC final.
1998–2022: Cody era Fennelly, in turn, was succeeded by Brian Cody, one of the most successful managers of the modern era, much of his success due to skill, organisation, work-rate and a never say die attitude.
1999–2003: Another 'double-double'