An Irish father of three who suffered serious injuries in an unprovoked attack before a soccer match in Liverpool eight years ago presented the club’s long-time star striker Mohamed Salah with a special GAA jersey over the weekend.
The attack by three Italian men on Seán Cox, from Dunboyne, Co Meath, before Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final against Roma at Anfield in 2018, left him with brain injuries that have impacted his life
Cox, who is now 60, spent months in a coma in Liverpool before transferring back to hospitals in Ireland. He continues to require full-time medical care. More than €2.7 million has been raised through donations to help support him.
At Saturday’s Premier League fixture between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield, Cox gifted the Egyptian striker with a Dunboyne GAA jersey with his name and number on the back.
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Salah (33) is Liverpool’s all-time top Premier League goalscorer. In addition to two Premier League titles and a Champions League with the Reds, he has won a large number of individual awards, from Premier League player of the season to the Fifa Puskas Award for the best goal in the world in a given year.
He joined the Merseyside club in 2017.
The jersey presented to Salah also had a special inscription under the crest with a message of thanks from the Cox family. He along with his wife Martina were guests of honour at the match.
With Salah’s name and number on the back, the jersey had a message embroidered beneath the crest which read: “Ní shiúlfaidh tú i d’aonar go deo (You’ll never walk alone). Le míle buíochas (a thousand thanks) Mo. From the Cox Family.”
Scores of well-known names across soccer, entertainment and business fundraised to help Cox, including former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool and Roma managements, Irish international Séamus Coleman, and comedians Tommy Tiernan, John Bishop and Deirdre O’Kane.
Three men were jailed over the attack on Cox.
