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.

Six rounds of games are played, culminating with the final match at Cusack Park in October or November that year.

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.

The next twenty years was again dominated by Newmarket-on-Fergus who returned after a period in the doldrums to claim thirteen titles between 1963 and 1981, including two three-in-a-rows (1963-1965 and 1967–1969), and a historic four-in-a-row from 1971 to 1974.

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.

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.