Introduced in 1887 as the Kilkenny 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.

A team's finishing position in the Kilkenny Senior Hurling League determines at what stage they enter the championship.

Carrickshock's dominance saw the club play in ten finals between 1938 and 1948, becoming the first team to win four successive championships from 1940 to 1943.

After a sixty-year hiatus Bennettsbridge returned to winning ways and claimed ten championship titles between 1952 and 1967.

In 1978 Ballyhale Shamrocks became the latest first-time champions and ushered in a new era of dominance by winning 10 more championship titles by 1991.

The teams are ranked in the group stage table by points gained, then scoring difference and then their head-to-head record.

Following the completion of the league, the top two teams from each group receive byes to separate quarter-finals in the championship.

The four first round losers take part in a series of play-offs, with the losing team being relegated to the Kilkenny Intermediate Hurling Championship.

Notes: The most successful team of each decade, judged by number of Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship titles, is as follows: Ballyhale Shamrocks - 23 matches (1st round 2018 to semi-final 2023) Top ten longest gaps between championship titles: Top ten longest gaps between appearances in a final (bold denotes a win):