An Irishman's Diary

IF YOU’RE A vampirologist, or from Monaghan – and those conditions are not, of course, mutually exclusive – you may, like me, have been particularly struck by that young New Zealand woman who sang before and after the Rugby World Cup final on Sunday.

Not that there was anything of the dark side about her. Blonde and beautiful, she delivered a moving version of her country’s national anthem in a pure soprano voice. And the serene post-match encore, Now is the Hour, captured the relief that all New Zealand must then have been feeling.

It was her name, Hayley Westenra, that piqued my interest. Specifically the surname, which to my knowledge now occurs in one, and only one, place in Ireland: on a hotel in Monaghan town. It also, however, features in vampire literature, via the book that launched the genre, Bram Stoker's Dracula. Which two facts may not be unconnected.

You’ll recall that one of Stoker’s protagonists is the unfortunate Lucy Westenra who, having become a vampiress, is cured of the disorder in the classic manner: stake through the heart, head chopped off, mouth stuffed with garlic, etc. And in seeking to explain her unusual surname, some students of Stoker have since added two and two together and assumed it was a reference to London’s West End, where the writer spent many years working for the actor Henry Irving.

Not so, says Deaglán Ó Mocháin), who has been researching Stoker for a TV documentary and who, in a spooky coincidence, e-mailed me about it days before the rugby final.

One of the keys to the book, he suggests, is a small relief sculpture in St Patrick's Church in Monaghan, just across from the Westenra Hotel. Entitled The Parting Glance, the carving features a man being held back in grief at the death-bed of his wife. And the real-life model for that man was the local Lord Rossmore, a Westenra by birth.

The suspicion is that Stoker knew both Lord Rossmore and the sculpture, which may have suggested Lucy’s dramatic demise. Indeed, Stoker may also have been familiar with the sculptor, Thomas Kirk, since the latter’s work was displayed, among other places, in Dublin’s St Anne’s Church, where Stoker had married Florence Balcombe (Oscar Wilde’s former lady friend) in 1878.

Underlining the theory is Rossmore's maternal name, Murray. Yes, it could be a coincidence. But there are only two main female characters in Dracula: Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray. So what were the chances?

THE MONAGHANWestenras were originally Dutch people who came to Ireland in the 1600s. They have since disappeared here, except in such vestiges as the hotel name. And whether some of them went to New Zealand and later created the lovely Hayley I don't know. All I know is that she does claim membership of the Irish Diaspora and, to prove it, was for a time part of the all-female vocal ensemble, Celtic Woman.

As I say, there’s nothing remotely vampirish about her. Yet there was a moment during Sunday’s final when I wondered if, off-screen, she was being haunted by the smell of garlic. Perhaps the whole Kiwi nation was, as yet again, with the World Cup finishing line in sight, they found the French breathing down down their necks.

The anthem she had sung earlier is called God Defend New Zealand,and it's possible that He was indeed defending for the All Blacks during the desperate last half-hour. Then the crisis passed, and soon the winsome soprano was back on the pitch to express a nation's gratitude.

God Defend New Zealandis one of the better anthems, superior both to the one it ousted ( God Save the Queen) and to the insipid Advance Australia Fair, which replaced the British anthem on the neighbouring island at around the same time. And as surely everyone knows, the words of GDNZwere written by another Monaghan man, Thomas Bracken from Clones, who emigrated Down Under soon after the Famine.

This reminds me that the Clones Film Festival – increasingly a rival to Cannes in its glamour, although still without a beach – began last night. It continues until Sunday, when the much-vied-for “Francie” awards will be announced: named after Francie “The Butcher Boy” Brady, and each taking the form of a tastefully-sculpted pig’s nose, in bronze.

In another spooky coincidence, this year's festival includes the premiere of the aforementioned Stoker documentary, by Derry-based company Dearcán Media. The film will also be shown on TG4 next Wednesday. And both screenings mark an early start to 2012's Stoker centenary. Which is just as well, since the 100th anniversary of his death in April may be overshadowed somewhat by a similar milestone, days earlier, involving a ship called the Titanic.