Intrusion.

I bolted upright. The apartment buzzer rang long and loud. I glanced quickly at my watch which read 3.27am. I moved deftly toward the front door. Living on the ground floor, I could hear whomever was pressing the buzzer was mumbling - something very incoherent. And they weren't alone.

Staying within the confines of my own apartment, I listened intently. All six apartments were buzzed in the hope that someone would release the lock on the communal door. I hoped everyone like myself would ignore it. Then the lock disengaged.

I checked the panel display on the alarm system - it was still armed. I heard shuffling on the carpet as they entered. I couldn't make out the accents or what was being said. Then I heard a dull thud. And whispered voices.

I walked to my bedroom window to peer out. A taxi hadn't dropped off our two intruders. They had come on foot. I picked up my phone and scrolled down to the number of the local Garda station. Then the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

The rattle of keys only inches from my front door.

My keys were already in the lock - they fell to the floor as the key entered from the far side. I dialled the number on my phone and picked up my keys.

"Hello? This is not your apartment! You will set off the alarm if you enter! You have the wrong apartment!"

"Open the fucking door! NOW!"

"I am ringing the Gardai right now. You are trying to enter a private residence!"

"Open the fucking door Marie!"

"Marie does not live here - you have the wrong door and wrong apartment!"

"You have two seconds to unlock this door before I kick it in Marie!"

"I don't know who Marie is! No one by that name has ever lived here!"

"Don't try to bullshit me! I know she has a new fella! What's your fucking name?"

"I repeat - I do NOT know a Marie. Marie has NEVER lived here! You have the wrong apartment! This is apartment 6B!"

"Open the fucking door asshole!"

I knock his key from the door and reinsert my own. I turn the key to prevent it being knocked out again. Then the attack begins. It near knocks me from my crouched position as I try to peer out of the keyhole. All I see is a boot coming toward the keyhole. Two grown men trying to kick the door down.

I get through to the Gardai. An officer, sounding very groggy, answers. I state the facts clearly and concisely. He takes a moment to write down the details. He can clearly hear the commotion going on in the background. The noise is deafening and the lock is loosening.

The Gardai won't get to me in time.

I have to make a decision to fight or flight. Putting on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and slipping into my runners I grab the spare set of keys. I hear wood splintering with drive of shoe leather. I lock the bathroom door and slip the key into my pants pocket.

I guess I have about ten seconds left. I grab my hurley from the coat cupboard.

Running from the bedroom through the hall and past the front door I open the window to the living room. The alarm goes off immediately as I open it ajar. Adrenaline fuels my every sinew. I leap out the window as I hear the door giving way. I close the window over and hop over the banister. I hear loud shouting amongst a wailing alarm as the two men enter.

It takes me only fifteen or twenty seconds to run around the apartment block. A small crowd of neighbours and semi-sober Saturday night clubbers are just passing and wonder what the commotion is all about.

I have the element of surprise.

My neighbour upstairs peers cautiously out from her front door. I wave her back indoors. The constant hammering of boots on wood has made utter smithereens of the four inch thick wooden front door.

I grab my hurley at the midpoint and take a deep breath. The two men are now kicking intently at the bathroom door. My plan is working. The alarm screams and muffles my approach.

I am less than five feet away and they do not turn around. The smell of alcohol is almost overpowering.

Their gait and stances are faltering. They are tired from pummelling the front door.

I have the legal right to defend myself against unwanted intruders.

I will defend my castle.