Cork-based gardaí among those awarded Scott medals
Back row: Minister for Justice Heather Humphreys, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Front: Orla McKeown grandniece of Detective Sergeant Patrick McKeown who received a posthumous gold medal award; Frank Brady son of Michael Brady who received a posthumous gold medal award; Marie Hyland, daughter of Detective Garda Richard Hyland who received a posthumous gold medal award during a Garda Scott medal award ceremony for deceased and serving members of at the Dubhlinn Gardens, Dublin Castle. Picture: Gareth Chaney
More than 16 years on, retired garda sergeant John McDonagh remembers the day of the hostage-taking like it was yesterday.
“I remember that day very well. I remember hiding behind a wall, watching the house. I remember him [one of the armed kidnappers] coming out the door. I remember meeting the father battered and I remember clearly making the arrests and the weapons.
“After that, after the arrests, my memory fades a bit. They were busy times.”
Yesterday, under glorious sunshine in Dublin Castle, Sgt McDonagh, and his colleague that day, Detective Sergeant Joe Young, received the highest honour An Garda Síochána can bestow, the Scott Medal.
The bronze Scott medal awarded to them by Garda commissioner Drew Harris marked the bravery they showed on May 2 and 3, 2005, when they were dispatched to the home of Gary and Katie O’Donovan and their four children at Mount Oval, Rochestown, Co Cork.
The ceremony at the Dubh Linn Gardens, in front of the memorial for gardaí who lost their lives in the course of their duties, was attended by families and senior figures in policing, including Mark Toland, head of the Garda Inspectorate, and Bob Collins, chair of the Policing Authority as well as Justice Minister Heather Humphreys.
“Myself and Sean O Donoghue were on armed detail that night and we received a call in relation to an incident in Mount Oval,” said Det Sgt Young, recalling the night.
“We made our way to the scene and met John McDonagh there and Gary O’Donovan, the injured party, who filled us in on what happened and how he escaped from the family home and that there were a number of armed raiders inside.”
When Mr O’Donovan had returned home he found one of two armed raiders pointing a gun at his wife Katie O’Donovan, who was six months pregnant and had been knocked to the ground when the raiders earlier entered the house.
Det Sgt Young said that when the husband went for the raider he was repeatedly hit on the head with a gun, fracturing his skull. Despite bleeding profusely and being bound and gagged he managed to free himself to raise the alarm.
“That was a very brave decision to make,” said Det Sgt Young.
He said he and his colleague put a plan in place and hid in a concealed area near the house. Later the raiders, on discovering the father had escaped, tried to flee out the front door.
“Two raiders came out,” recalled Sgt Young. “John confronted both simultaneously, the guy with the firearm stopped, John gave him a command to drop the firearm Thankfully, he did.
"The other raider took off running, I followed him and he fell. He was rooting at his pockets. We were under the impression both were armed with a firearm. I gave him the command put out his hands. Fortunately, he put out hands and I took the gun off him, a stun gun.”
Both Sgt McDonagh, a Co Meath man living in Cork for the past 37 years, and Det Sgt Young, a Co Kilkenny man based in Cork for 22 years, said the award was also for other colleagues there on the day, including unarmed uniform gardaí.
The Anglesea station men were two of 13 gardaí honoured with the Scott Medal, including three who received the gold Scott medal posthumously.
Inspector Darren Kirwan, based in Dundalk Garda Station, Co Louth, received his second bronze medal after he and colleague Detective Garda Andrew Barron confronted a violent gang.
Their patrol car was repeatedly rammed and at one stage the car reversed at then Det Sgt Kirwan, who managed to jump to one side.
Fearing the driver of the car was reaching for a gun, he broke the driver’s window with an ASP, suffering a significant cut.
When the passenger of the car got out and ran, Insp Kirwan ran after him and, despite his wound, tackled him and arrested him.
“It’s an honour for me, but also my colleagues on the night,” said Insp Kirwan. “This is going on on a daily basis in the busy district like Dundalk. We probably take for granted the work gardaí do in Dundalk.”
He cited the murders of Dundalk district colleagues, Garda Tony Golden in Omeath in October 2015 and Det Garda Adrian Donohoe in Bellurgan in January 2013.
“We have been extremely badly hit, to lose Tony Golden and Adrian Donohoe," he said. "They will never be forgotten by any of my colleagues in Dundalk.”
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