The most unlikely friendship between a garda killer and the man who put him behind bars

Retired detective superintendent Tom Connolly recalls reconnecting with the man he helped send to prison for his part in a robbery that resulted in the deaths of two gardaí

Tom Connolly, the retired detective superintendent with An Garda Siochána who talked to Pat McCann about the robbery in Ballaghadereen, Co. Roscommon, over 40 years ago which resulted in the deaths of two gardaí. Photo: Moya Nolan

Tom Connolly found the cottage about a mile outside Portarlington. It was a one-off building set back from the road. He walked up to the door and knocked. After a brief interval, the door was pulled open. The man who answered looked dishevelled, unkempt. 

As they stood on the threshold, eyeing each other for a few seconds, the decades rolled back and recognition sparked the air between them. The man spoke first.