Senegal lined up to provide Ireland a strong test

Irish Times

05-06-2025

History will be made this month when the
British and Irish Lions
play in Ireland for the first time.
But for once, the
FAI
are one step ahead of their rugby equivalents having conducted a tour of their own playing countries whose nickname incorporates the lions. This tour continues on Friday when Ireland welcome Senegal (The Lions of Teranga, meaning hospitable) to the Aviva Stadium before concluding next Tuesday away to Luxembourg (The Red Lions).
Early tour results were so poor that in March Ireland had to defeat Bulgaria (The Lions) in a relegation playoff to avoid demotion to Nations League C. This was necessitated by heavy defeats both home and away to England (The Three Lions). Just to rub it in, the England Women's team (The Lionesses) recently completed their own double over our Girls in Green. After facing Ireland the Lions of Teranga will travel immediately to Nottingham to play The Three Lions to conclusively determine who really is The Lion King of international football.
This will be the first time the Boys in Green have played Senegal, but two visitors are making a quick return to Ireland. In July 2024 the Everton team that drew 3-3 with Sligo Rovers before a packed Showgrounds in the 'Séamus Coleman Derby' included both Idrissa Gana Gueye and debutant Iliman Ndiaye.
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In May, Ndiaye entered Toffees history by scoring both goals in a 2-0 victory over Southampton in Everton's final men's match at Goodison Park, their home for 133 years. Less happily, in January, Ndiaye became the first player to be booked for the hitherto unknown offence of impersonating a seagull as he celebrated his winning goal against Brighton.
Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson celebrates finding the net for Chelsea against Real Betis in the Conference League final. Photograph: Rafal Oleksiewicz/PA Wire
A number of Pape Thiaw's squad arrive with freshly minted winners medals in their luggage. Nicolas Jackson scored for Chelsea in their 4-1 victory over Real Betis in the Conference League final.
Two medal winners have recently generated 'Super Sarr' headlines. Ismaïla Sarr was a crucial part of the Crystal Palace team that secured their first major trophy by defeating Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup. Days later, namesake Pape Sarr provided the assist for Brennan Johnson's goal for Spurs in their 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Europa League.
When Sadio Mané requested not to be selected for the trip to Ireland, Senegal replaced him by calling up Mamadou Lamine Camara, who recently won the African Confederation Cup with his Moroccan club Renaissance Berkane. But the long-term replacement for Mané is expected to be Amara Diouf, who in August 2023 made his senior debut for Senegal against Rwanda aged 15 years and 94 days. Diouf rose to prominence aged just 14 when he helped Senegal win the 2023 under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, finishing as the competition's top scorer.
Senegal have consistently supplied some of the Premier League's best players – not to mention its greatest hoax. In November 1996, Southampton manager Graeme Souness received a telephone call from a man purporting to be George Weah recommending he sign his cousin, Senegalese striker Ali Dia.
It always seemed odd to imagine Weah cold-calling relegation-threatened clubs to see if they wanted to sign random relatives. After all, Weah was a Ballon d'Or winner on a career trajectory that would see him serve as president of his country.
Senegalese players celebrate after Pape Bouba Diop scores what turned out to be the only goal of the game against France at the 2022 World Cup. Photograph: Jacques Demarthon/AFP via Getty Images
Perhaps, more pertinently, that country was Liberia and not Senegal. Signed on a short-term deal Dia was introduced as a replacement for the injured Matt Le Tissier in a league game against Leeds United before being himself substituted. An unimpressed Le Tisser recalled that Dia 'ran around the pitch like Bambi on ice. It was very embarrassing to watch'. This single appearance did at least enable Dia to win one football competition, finishing top of one newspaper's list of 'The 50 Worst Footballers".
Like Ireland, Senegal have qualified for the World Cup three times, with their first appearance remaining their most successful. In 2002, Senegal made the greatest World Cup debut in history, defeating reigning champions France 1-0 in the tournament's opening match.
There were memorable scenes following Papa Bouba Diop's winner as the team danced around a shirt in celebration. They went on to become only the second African team to reach the quarter-finals.
When they returned to the World Cup in 2018, Senegal made less welcome history as the first team ever to be eliminated on a 'fair-play' tiebreaker. Having finished the group stage with an identical record to Japan, they were ousted on the grounds of having received more yellow cards (six to four). To make matters worse, two of Senegal's six bookings had been received in injury time of their clash with Japan.
One Senegal-born international who has won the World Cup is Patrick Vieira, a fact highlighted by Roy Keane during their infamous prematch confrontation in the Highbury tunnel. Having read in the match programme about the good works Vieira was funding in the country of his birth, Keane less than charitably inquired 'If you love Senegal so much why don't you play for them?'.
Senegal are captained by Kalidou Koulibaly, considered such a man mountain at centre half that his nickname is 'K2″. Koulibaly was captain when Senegal won the African Cup of Nations for the only time in 2021 and plays for Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League, where international colleague and former Chelsea team-mate Édouard Mendy is goalkeeper for Al-Ahli. At Stamford Bridge Mendy became only the second player from Senegal (after Mané) to win the Champions League when Chelsea defeated Manchester City in the 2021 final.