Elderly customer fights off three armed robbers in failed bookie stick-up

An elderly betting shop customer has earned international respect after fending off armed robbers who tried to stick up his local bookmakers.

Footage has gone viral of 83-ear-old Denis O'Connor from county Cork, Ireland, after three masked men raided the bookies in Glanmire - two wielding hammers and the other brandishing a sawn-off shotgun at customers.

But Denis, another customer and the manager of Bar One Racing are shown tackling the assailants in a hair-raising fight - with the octogenarian bravely confronting the gunman and kicking him in the backside. And as they ran away he yelled at them: "You're cowards"!

The CCTV footage from the betting shop shows the three world-be robbers burst through the door and threaten customers.

The seem to overlook Denis and focus on the other men in the room, and two climb over the counter to pressure the manager to give them cash from the till.

Meanwhile Denis creeps around them to distract one of the raiders, and chases him out of the shop. manager Tim Murphy narrowly manages to stop one robber from beating him with a hammer before he also makes a run for it.

Garda officers confirmed the incident took place at around 6pm on Saturday and are asking for witnesses to come forward who may have seen a suspicious looking black saloon in the area around the same time.

Denis, a great granddad and father of five, spoke to the Irish Sun after the incident, and said he was still very active and regularly swims and attends a local gym.

He told the newspaper: “You can either run and hide or take a stand and I took a stand. The two with the hammers had jumped in and were threatening Tim, the manager, and I decided to go and help him.”

“They came flying through the front door," said Denis, and after "screaming and shouting" at the four or five customers, one started to attack Mr Murphy.

“Two of them jumped over the counter demanding money from Tim," added Denis. "They had hammers. The other one had a shotgun which he pointed at us."

Manager Tim Murphy told Cork's RedFM: "The noise was incredible, they were just roaring and bashed hammers.

"They weren't interested in the five euro or 10 euro bills in the till, they were shouting 'we want the safe, we want the safe'.

"Dennis tackled one and I just said 'I kind of have to tackle this fella' now as well'. I just tried to grab the hammer. I remember Dennis just shouting 'ye're cowards, ye're total cowards'.

"Dennis is just a total hero. When I saw him take on one he totally inspired me.

"Dennis is very fit, he's a lovely man and I know him very well. He just came to my aid. He wasn't looking after the bookies, he was looking after me.

One person commented when the video emerged on Reddit: "

Officers of Co. Cork's Garda force said: “We are appealing for any information or witness sightings of the three male suspects in the Riverstown, Glanmire area between 6pm and 7pm on Saturday and any mobile phone or dash-cam footage from the Riverstown/Glanmire/Sallybrook area at the same time”.

“We are also appealing for any witness sightings of suspicious activity by a black saloon vehicle, either an Audi A4 or VW Passat, in the Riverstown/Glanmire/Sallybrook area at the same time.”