Ronaldo and co hit Irish training camp

REAL Madrid’s star turn was one of a 60-strong squad who last night descended on Carton House in an onslaught of foreigners not seen on the shores of the Rye since the days of the Norman invasion.

Famous as the former seat of the Earl of Kildare, it can now lay claim to a seat supported by the most expensive legs in the world – Ronaldo and his €80 million pins.

What seems an unlikely location for the good and the great of big club football, is in fact part of a meticulously planned event beginning over a year ago with talks between Platinum One, an Irish sports management company, and Carton House.