‘Liam attacked his cancer with ferocity... for his beloved family’
IRISH soccer star Liam Miller fought cancer with the same ferocity he showed on the pitch, but will be remembered as a ‘gas man’ and a ‘family man’ most of all, his funeral heard yesterday.
Miller’s brother-in-law Dan Sheedy spoke of how the 36-year-old was desperate to fight his cancer because he wanted to save himself for the sake of his family.
And while the 400 or so mourners included legends such as Roy Keane, Denis Irwin and Brian Kerr, Mr Sheedy insisted Liam’s legacy would not be based on anything he achieved on the pitch. Instead, it would be his family whom he had loved with ‘every fibre of his body’.
Earlier, parish priest Fr Liam Ó hIcí said Liam had ‘completed his life to the full’. He said: ‘Liam fought his illnesses with the same resilience he played. He gave so much joy to people.’
He reeled off some of the managers he played for like Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and Giovanni Trapattoni, and said: ‘As one might say, follow that.’
Speaking at the end of the service at St John The Baptist Church, outside Ovens, Co. Cork, Mr Sheedy thanked hospital staff for the ‘privacy, dignity and care they afforded Liam during his battle’.
He commiserated with Liam’s wife Claire, his sons Kory and Leo and daughter Belle, parents Billy and Bridie and siblings Seán, Robby and Martin and Suze.
He said: ‘Liam attacked his [esophageal cancer] with a ferocity and a determination to survive that is impossible to comprehend unless you saw it.’ He added: ‘Liam’s motivation, as it has always been, was for others and, specifically, family. He wanted to survive for his family.’