Hero filmed fighting off Sudanese knifeman with an Irish hurling stick as he tried to behead victim is named

A heroic bystander filmed fighting off a Sudanese migrant as he tried to behead his victim on the streets of the United Kingdom has been praised, with a fundraiser set up to buy him a drink.Matt McKiernan, 32, has come forward as the man filmed swinging an Irish wooden hurling stick as he defends a stranger during Monday night’s shocking attacks on a street in Belfast, Northern Ireland.Graphic video showed the knifeman, an unidentified Sudanese migrant, pinning his victim to the ground before stabbing him several times.“He’s trying to cut his head off,” a witness screams, as he moves the knife in a sawing motion while holding his fist up.McKiernan was in the car with a friend on the way to a gas station when they came across the horrific sight.He said his friend was trained in Brazilian jujitsu and approached the pair first to separate them.“As he got closer, he saw the knife.It looked to be a serrated steak knife but with a broken handle,” McKiernan told the Daily Mail.“The attacker was by now shouting, and he said, ‘I’m going to kill him, Wallahi [I swear by Allah], he’s dead.’ And then he stabbed him in the eye,” McKiernan continued.Dramatic video first shared on social media showed a man identified as McKiernan bashing the knifeman in the head with a long wooden stick used for hurling, a traditional Irish sport that has similar elements to lacrosse and field hockey.“I’d taken my son to hurling practice earlier that evening and so I’d got out of the car, gone to the [trunk] and grabbed his hurling stick.

Instinct took over and I ran over and I smashed this guy over the head with the hurling stick.Right on the flat side, about three times.

As hard as I could,” he said.With the help of his friend Andre, McKiernan was able to force the knifeman to drop his weapon and back away, before police and armed tactical support arrived on the scene.A GoFundMe, set up to buy McKiernan “a pint,” has already raised more than $9,000.“I cou...