A team of burglars was no match for the fighting Irish.
Dan Donovan, an 81-year-old former Marine, used his grandfather’s old shillelagh walking stick to drive a gang of goons out of his Niles, Ill., house earlier this month, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The Tribune reported that Donovan and his wife, Barbara, discovered three intruders had sneaked into their brick home in the northern Chicago suburbs after a man claiming to be a utility worker from the electrical company showed up on Nov. 4.
“We had received a letter from the electric company the day before,” Donovan told the Tribune.
But when he and his wife realized two others had entered their home, Donovan said he grabbed the shillelagh and started swinging.
“I was trying to find some type of persuasive weapon,” he told the Tribune. “So I picked up the Irish shillelagh and that turned out to be the equalizer because I managed to chase them out of the house.”
Cops in Niles tagged the break-in as a “ruse entry,” a scam in which intruders attempt to distract homeowners while the partners steal small items, according to the Tribune.
It wasn’t clear if the invaders managed to steal anything, and they escaped Donovan and his stick in an SUV, the newspaper reported.
