The lists of Irish championship players have been updated to add the previously missing players from the 1889 championship, i.e., those who received a handicap and who did not qualify for the final. With these additions, the lists contain the complete set of all players who have ever played in an Irish championship, as far as we can determine them. There are 567 players in all, including 554 men and 13 women. Of these, 49 have been Irish champion.
The details of the 1889 championship have been very hard to find, but David McAlister sent the names of all contestants some time ago. The championship was organised as a handicap, in which only players playing off scratch were eligible for the title. It was intended to have four groups of 8, with the top two in each group qualifying for the final. In the end, it seems that 31 players took part. Previously 13 were listed here, i.e., the 8 players who played in the final, and a further 5 scratch non-qualifiers.
The remaining 18 players, newly added here, were:
A. S.(?) Bagot, Edward Burke, D. Cudmore, James Doheny, Parker Dunscombe, Glass, John Mills Goldsmith, Jennings, F. Jones, J. J. Jones, Mahony, McConnell, O’Dowd, A. S./W. Orr, F. F. Orr, Read, Thompson, and J. Young.
In addition, full names and/or extra initials were added for Prof. Stephen Fitzpatrick, who played in 1889, Harry Harte, Joseph A. Keenan, and Seán O’Kearney.
The full list is available in alphabetical order and in descending order of number of championships played.