Tallaghticos bring galacticos back to earth

FORTY years after man went to the moon, the galacticos landed in Tallaght. One small stepover for Ronaldo, perhaps, but a giant leap for South Dublin County.

And proving that international reputation counts for nought in these parts, the moneyed superstars of Real Madrid had to wait until three minutes from time before finally disposing of Shamrock Rovers by one goal to nil at Tallaght Stadium, the winner coming from one of their big new signings, French international Karim Benzema.

The whole world might not have been watching this time but an impressive little chunk of it was: from the 11,000 who packed into the temporarily extended home of Shamrock Rovers to an estimated international audience of 30 million watching live coverage on Sky and Spanish television.