Clare goals either side of half-time were decisive as the Banner held on to claim their first significant silverware since 2016 in an Allianz Hurling League final that smouldered slowly before catching fire.
Kilkenny had won back-to-back All-Ireland semi-finals between the sides but Clare gained some measure of revenge in Thurles, Aidan McCarthy (2) and David Fitzgerald raising the green flags that set them on the way to just a fifth league crown.
Clare took a flattering lead into half-time, a goal from the clinical McCarthy, who finished with 2-10, putting them 1-08 to 0-09 ahead at the break despite the Cats dominating the second quarter.
Adrian Mullen was everywhere in the opening 35 minutes, scoring three points, hitting four wides and being booked for a shoulder that drifted into the chest of Cathal Malone.
Kilkenny will have felt they should have been ahead but Clare started the second half in style as Fitzgerald burst through to beat Eoin Murphy then set up McCarthy to repeat the trick and send his side seven points clear.
The Cats roared back, in typical fashion, Martin Keoghan hitting four points off the bench and Eoin Cody rattling the net, but two was as close as they got, Eibhear Quilligan making a crucial save from Cody's 69th-minute penalty.
Kilkenny talisman TJ Reid was a late withdrawal before throw-in, having picked up a hamstring injury. That gave Billy Drennan, who had only started once in the group stages, the chance to shine. However, the Galmoy youngster had an off-day, hitting four wides (two from frees) and being withdrawn in the second half.
The parting gift of Storm Kathleen was a stiff breeze that seemed to affect the shooting of both sides early on as wides were more plentiful than points.
Darragh Lohan pointed after good work from Mark Rodgers and Billy Ryan robbed Clare wing-back Diarmuid Ryan to score while Ryan and Kilkenny corner-back Shane Murphy did both manage to find the range from distance though to take it to 0-3 apiece after 12 minutes.
There were plenty of sidelines, big hits and spilled balls but not too much quality in a scrappy opening quarter.
David Blanchfield inched Kilkenny ahead from long-range before they forged the game’s first goal chance, Cody well blocked down by the superb Adam Hogan and Quilligan turning Mullen’s follow-up shot over the bar. Mullen had been off target three times before that but added another either side of Rodgers and Ian Galvin efforts from play – 0-06 each on 20 minutes.
Kilkenny took over after that, hitting three points in a row from Mullen – after his effort on goal was first blocked down by Conor Leen – Richie Reid and Jordan Molloy.
Clare hadn’t scored for 14 minutes approaching half-time until Rodgers won possession from Blanchfield and fed McCarthy to hammer the ball low past Murphy to the bottomright corner. Another free from the Inagh-Kilnamona man gave them a two-point half-time cushion they scarcely deserved.
Martin Keoghan had came on for Hogan near the end of the first half and made an immediate impact upon the resumption but Fitzgerald grabbed Clare’s second goal in the 36th minute: after Shane O'Donnell's first touch of the season was an exchange of passes with David Reidy, the midfielder sidestepped Reid to blast past Murphy at his near post.
Keoghan responded but Clare’s tails were up and, roared on by the majority of the crowd, they reeled off three in a row from McCarthy (two frees).
Cody, kept quiet in the first half, got on the scoresheet as Kilkenny hit back with three of the next four points but they had a mountain to climb after Fitzgerald’s hand-pass set McCarthy free to bat the ball past Murphy in the 54th minute – 3-12 to 0-14.
'Kilkenny never give up’ is only a cliché because they fight back so often and so Derek Lyng’s men responded with the next three points, Cody frees either side of sub Timmy Clifford splitting the posts.
Clare weathered the storm with another McCarthy free – he was flawless for the second game in a row – and Rodgers’ second score but Cody raised the temperature in Semple when he took a pass from John Donnelly and fired low across Quilligan to the net with five minutes to play.
The gap was four and the end of normal time approaching when Johnny Murphy awarded a penalty to Kilkenny and sent Rodgers to the sin-bin. The forward had chopped down on Donnelly outside the square so the punishment was presumably for ‘careless use of the hurley' as the subsequent tangle of legs did not appear deliberate. In any event, Cody scuffed his effort into the ground and straight at Quilligan.
Cian Kenny – with his second from play – and Keoghan (his fourth) kept Clare nerves jangling throughout five minutes of injury time but they held on to win by two points and secure the first trophy of Brian Lohan’s five years in charge.
Thousands of jubilant Banner fans gathered on the pitch to watch Conor Cleary accept the cup but both sides will quickly turn their attention to championship and the bigger challenge of dethroning Limerick.
Clare are out against the All-Ireland champions, who have beaten them in the last two Munster finals, in Ennis on 21 April. On the same day, Kilkenny begin their Leinster SHC defence at home to Antrim.
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Conor Cleary (capt), Conor Leen; Diarmuid Ryan (0-01), John Conlon, Cian Galvin; David Fitzgerald (1-00), Darragh Lohan (0-01); Cathal Malone (0-01), Mark Rodgers (0-02), Peter Duggan; Aidan McCarthy (2-10), Ian Galvin (0-01), David Reidy.
Subs: Shane O’Donnell for I Galvin (HT), Aron Shanagher for Reidy (52), David McInerney for C Galvin (58), Rory Hayes for Leen (59), Seadna Morey for Lohan (59).
Kilkenny: Eoin Murphy; Shane Murphy (0-01), Huw Lawlor, Tommy Walsh; David Blanchfield (0-01), Paddy Deegan (capt), Richie Reid (0-01); Cian Kenny (0-02), Jordan Molloy (0-01); Adrian Mullen (0-03), John Donnelly (0-01), Billy Ryan (0-01); Luke Hogan, Billy Drennan (0-01f), Eoin Cody (1-04, 3f).
Subs: Martin Keoghan (0-04) for Hogan (29), Kevin Blanchfield for Molloy (49), Timmy Clifford for Drennan (45), Liam Blanchfield for Ryan (60).
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
