A report on the 1996 Irish championship has been added to the Irish championships page here.
This was the year when the championship ended in a three-way tie, with Richard O’Donovan winning his first, and so far only, title over Tom Clarke (with his best-ever Irish championship result) and Colm Daly (equal first for the first time).
O’Donovan won his first five games and led the field by a clear 1½ points, but then suffered consecutive losses against Mark Quinn and against Tom Clarke, blundering in a drawn endgame, before finishing with a draw and a win.
Mark Quinn, playing in his first Irish championship, led going into the final round, but lost a long game against Colm Daly, in the last game to finish, to finish joint fourth.
Tom Clarke started slowly; the amazing dropped half-point against Richard O’Brien in round 2, after being three pawns up, proved costly. But he finished with four straight wins (three with Black).
[Update, December 20, 2018: fixed links in post above and in playable games.]
links to 1997 ch. I checked as I played in the 96 ch.