Four heavily armed men robbed a bank at Stillorgan Shopping Centre, Dublin, escaping to a van, driven by a fifth man, with £102,000.
With most of south Dublin's mobile units in pursuit, the high-speed chase "ended dramatically at Carrickmines Cross."
"The raiders, realizing that their aged van was never going to outdistance the powerful Garda patrol car, stopped out of sight of the pursuing detectives [Daly and Curran] and set up a hastily-prepared ambush.
"Realizing that the raiders could scarcely head back towards Dublin, the three detectives used their cars to block the narrow road.
Donnellan and his colleague, Kieran Brennan, were awarded the Scott Medal at Templemore in 1982, sharing the ceremony with the widows of three Gardaí killed in action - John Morley, Henry Burns, and Seamus Quaid (see Deaths of Garda officers (1980).
It is a very thin line between life and death, and that's the one thing about the gardai, there is no group in the country that has paid as big a price."