Two gardai presented with Scott medals

November 1986

It is revealed two members of the gardai in Dundalk will be decorated for their bravery.

Sgt. Brendan Connolly and Sgt. Pat McGee are to be presented with the Scott bronze medal for disarming and arresting a masked man who fired a sawn-off shotgun at their patrol car in Hoey’s Lane.

The incident occurred over two years ago, on the night before the murder of a garda detective in a post office robbery at Drumree, Co. Meath.

The two officers will receive their medals at a ceremony in Templemore. Co. Tipperary on 4 December next.

On the night in question, in August, 1984, the two officers and detectives were summoned to a house off St. Alphonsus Road.

A five-man armed and masked gang had burst into the house, but one of the occupants managed to raise the alarm.

The gang fled in their car, along the Avenue Road, as far as the Dublin Road, before turning onto Hoey’s Lane, all the while pursued by a detective car.

The gang crashed, and shots were exchanged. One of the men ran down the road, only to be met by a patrol car containing the two sergeants.

He fired a shot at the vehicle from a sawn-off shotgun. The two guards jumped out, knocked him to the ground, and grabbed the weapon.

The man was arrested, later charged and subsequently sentenced in the Special Criminal Court. The rest of the gang got away. Sgt. Connolly is attached to the Dundalk station, having served previously in Omeath.

Sgt. McGee is based in Carlingford, having been in Blackrock and Dundalk before.