TheyShillelaghs are commonly the length of a walking -stick (distance from the floor to one'sthe wrist with elbow slightly bent),<ref>{{cncite web | title=Buying the best walking stick - What height walking stick do I need?| publisher=Which? | date=July24 2019May 2024| url=https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/mobility-equipment/article/buying-the-best-walking-stick-awCDH7N5XqQc}}</ref> or rather longer,typically about {{convert|4|or|53|ft|m}}, asor opposedrather tolonger the walking stick measuringat about {{convert|34|or|5|ft|m}}.{{sfn|Hurley|2007|pp=144, 157}} In the broad sense, the Shillealagh ''bata'' or sticks could include short mallets only {{convert|1|to|2|ft|m}} in lengthlong, to long poles measuring {{convert|6|to|9|ft|m}} in lengthlong.{{sfn|Chouinard|2007}}

''Bataireacht'', an [[Irish language]] term sometimes given as referring to "cudgelling" or "beating with a club",<ref>{{cite book | url = https://celt.ucc.ie/Dinneen1sted.pdf | via = celt.ucc.ie | title = Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla / An Irish-English Dictionary | editor-first = Patrick S. | editor-last = Dinneen | place = Dublin | publisher = Irish Texts Society | date = 1904 }}</ref> refers to a category of stick-fighting in Ireland,{{sfn|O'Connell|2022}} with the ''shillelagh'' sometimes used in such fights.<ref name="Geber">{{Cite journal |last1=Geber |first1=Jonny |last2=O’Donnabhain |first2=Barra |date=2020 |title="Against Shameless and Systematic Calumny": Strategies of Domination and Resistance and Their Impact on the Bodies of the Poor in Nineteenth-Century Ireland |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-019-00219-2 |journal=Historical Archaeology |language=en |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=160–183 |doi=10.1007/s41636-019-00219-2 |issn=2328-1103 |pmc=7012797 |pmid=32116407}}</ref> Also referred to as ''boiscín'',{{sfn|O'Begly|1732}} the fighting style is mostly characterizedcharacterised by the use of a cudgel, or knobbed stick, which is grabbed by the third of the handle end, the lower part protecting the elbow and allowing the user to maintain an offensive as well as defensive guard. This grip also allows launching fast punching-like strikes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hemamisfits.com/2015/02/03/what-is-irish-stick-fighting |first= Maxime| last=Chouinard |title=What is Irish stick fighting? |date=3 February 2015 |publisher=Hemamisfits.com |access-date=2015-07-01}}</ref>

| year = 1975}}{{page needed|date=December 2020}}</ref> This theory has been criticizedcriticised, including for its lack of primary source material. Although fencing instruction and manuals existed at the time and were available in Ireland and abroad, with one of them illustrating bataireacht among wrestling, boxing and fencing <ref name="Walker 1940">{{cite book

By the 18th century, stick fighting became increasingly associated with Irish gangs called "factions".{{fact|date<ref name=November"Patrick D. 2023}}O'Donnell"/> Irish faction fights involved large groups engaging in melees at county fairs, weddings, funerals and other gatherings. Historians, such as Carolyn Conley, believe that this possibly reflected a culture of recreational violence. It is also argued that faction fighting had class and political overtones, as depicted in the works of [[William Carleton]] and [[James S. Donnelly, Jr.]]'s "Irish Peasants: Violence & Political Unrest, 1780". By the early 19th century, these gangs had organised into larger regional federations, which coalesced from the old [[Whiteboys]], into the Caravat and Shanavest factions. Beginning in [[Munster]], the Caravat and Shanavest "war" erupted sporadically throughout the 19th century and caused several disturbances.<ref>{{cite book

The anti-recruiting folk song "[[Arthur McBride]]", where the recruiters are struck with a shillelagh,{{sfn|Milner|Kaplan|1983a|pp=87–88}}{{sfn|James|2006}} and in the 19th-century song "[[Rocky Road to Dublin]]", in which references are made to fashioning a shillelagh ("I cut a stout blackthorn"), and using it ("shillalah"){{sfn|Carleton|1866|pp=59–63}} to hold a tied bag over one's shoulder, and using it as a striking weapon ("me shillelagh I let fly").{{sfn|Milner|Kaplan|1983b|pp=58–59}}

== Modern usageuse ==

AThe number of items take their name from the shillelagh, including theUS [[MGM-51 Shillelagh]] anti-tank missile was named ''Shillelagh''.{{sfn|Matusitz|2014|p=208|loc=More recently, the MGM-51 antitank missile [..] was baptized as the "Shillelagh"}} Also,An a number of aircraft of the US [[357th Fighter Group]] werewas named for''The theShillelagh!'', with a club andpainted hadon representativethe nose art.<ref>{{cite web|url =https://toflyandfight.com/p-51b-profile-the-shillelagh/ | website = toflyandfight.com | title = P-51B/D Profile – "The Shillelagh" - 357th Fighter Group Profile| accessdate = 25 January 2024 }}</ref> In the tabletop game ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', 'shillelagh' is a low-level spell used by casters to make simple clubs into powerful bludgeoning weapons.{{sfn|Dungeons & Dragons|2014}}

* {{cite book |series=Dungeons & Dragons |title=Player's Handbook |edition=5th |publisher=[[Wizards of the Coast]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7869-6560-1 |url=http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_playershandbook |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140824153624/http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_playershandbook |url-status=live|archive-date=24 August 2014 |ref={{harvid|Dungeons & Dragons|2014}}}}