Badass Irish Great-Grandpa Fights Off Shotgun And Hammer-Wielding Robbers

Three armed robbers were no match for a badass great-grandfather in Ireland .

Denis O’Connor, 83, sprung into action Saturday night after the three men burst into the Bar One Racing bookmakers in Glanmire, County Cork, brandishing a shotgun and hammers, according to multiple media reports .

Surveillance footage shows O’Connor grappling with one man waving a hammer, and forcing him outside:

O’Connor then faced down the shotgun-wielding intruder before assisting store manager Tim Murphy in ejecting the final man.

The suspects fled empty-handed and got away.

Murphy branded O’Connor a “total hero.” 

“I remember Denis shouting , ‘You’re cowards, you’re total cowards,’” Murphy told The Irish Journal. “He just totally inspired me.” 

O’Connor, meanwhile, said he “thought it was all a joke at the start.” 

“I didn’t really think about it. I just went for it,” he told the Irish Independent. “You can either sit down and do nothing or take a stand. I decided to stand up to these people.”

Irish police, however, warned people against tackling armed robbers.

“It was great that a robbery was stopped but it could have been a very different story if the ­robbers stood their ground,” Garda Superintendent Mick Comyns told The Irish Sun.