Kilkenny county hurling team
Kilkenny county hurling team
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Kilkenny county hurling team

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.

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.[failed verification]

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 two of the most famous All-Ireland SHC finals of all-time[according to whom?]. 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.

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