Bravery award for unarmed garda from Offaly who took on man armed with machine gun and grenade

A GARDA from Offaly has been awarded a silver Scott Medal for bravery after taking on a man armed with a machine gun in Dublin four years ago.

Detective Garda Niall Minnock, Cappincur, received his medal from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris at a special ceremony at Walter Scott House, Military Road, Dublin on Friday morning.

The two gardai who were with him in Ballymun on March 11, 2019 in Ballymun, Sergeant Andrew O’Connor and Garda Conor Garland were also awarded silver Scott medals.

They had responded to a call about an armed man in the vicinity of shops in Poppintree, Ballymun.

On arrival at the scene the guards saw a male running with what appeared to be a black sub machine gun in his hand.

He into a private house followed by the three gardaí. He then ran into the bathroom of the house and as the gardai followed a number of shots were discharged from the bathroom.

The gardaí tackled him in the bathroom and the firearm was safely recovered. The guards then observed what appeared to be a grenade on the floor of the bathroom.

After they arrested the man an Irish Defence Forces bomb disposal unit arrived to examine the grenade and a controlled explosion was conducted.

In July 2020 Detective Garda Minnock, who is well known in Offaly GAA circles both as a player and administrator with Cappincur, received a bravery award from the Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Speaking to the Tullamore Tribune at the time he said it was “just fluke” that neither he nor the other gardai – all three of whom were unarmed - were hit when the man shot at them from the bathroom.

“We tried to talk to him and talk him down and then he lifted the machine gun in our direction and let off shots and we jumped on top of him as he was firing and disarmed him then.

“We pushed him towards the bathtub and into the bathtub and sat on top of him and held him there until more guards came.”

Detective Garda Minnock said he was frightened by the incident but added: “It's just one of them things I suppose. You don't really dwell on what could possibly happen and what you don't expect to happen. At the time you just react and you can think about what happened after.

“We were definitely lucky.”

Garda Minnock said the man who fired the shots, Derek Devoy, was well known to gardai and residents of the Ballymun area.

He was prosecuted and the Special Criminal Court heard his gun went off while a primed grenade was on the floor in the house at Crannogue Road, Ballymun on March 11 last year.

Garda Minnock narrowly avoided being shot in the head when a bullet passed his eye-line in the hallway of the extension where the bathroom was located.

A shell casing struck Garda Minnock and the court was told the Offaly man was lucky not to be two steps forward when Mr Devoy opened fire.

When Garda Minnock and his colleagues subdued the man they saw a grenade on the ground with its pin out and fly-lever not attached.

It was detonated afterwards in a controlled explosion.

The gunman, aged 37, was armed with a Makarov sub-machine gun and a Yugoslavian M75 hand grenade.

He pleaded guilty to possession of the gun with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury and to assaulting gardai.

Mr Devoy's father died when the man was eight, his sister was killed when an attempt was made on his own life and his older brother had been murdered in 2014.

Eight other Scott medals were presented on Friday morning, including a gold medal awarded posthumously to Inspector Samuel Donegan who was killed in 1972 in Legakelly, Cavan when a device he was inspecting exploded.