By Michael McMullan

LAVEY hurling manager Martin Convery admits winter hurling has its challenges, but adds that it’s also a learning environment for his young side.

The Derry champions lock horns with Armagh side Cuchulain’s on Saturday in Carrickmore with an Ulster Junior final spot up for grabs.

Last season it was Ballinascreen who took the title but Lavey will need to up the shooting efficiency from Sunday’s win over Cootehill.

Second-half goals from Connor Melaugh, Ryan Mulholland and Aimon Duffin were the key scores but Lavey registered 19 wides over the hour.

“There were a lot of misses but they weren’t under pressure, so it is a concern,” Convery said. “As you go on in this competition, you won’t get as many chances and if you get chances you have to take them.”

With the experienced Eamon McGill gone for the season, it’s a Lavey side with a host of players from their recent minor winning teams.

Aidan Toner, Ryan Farren and Brendan Laverty have plenty of hurling under their belt but the young guns Convery managed at minor level are coming through.

“The whole point is it’s learning for them and come next summer again, you have to take something from it,” Convery said.

“As we talked about before, Ballinascreen last year took a lot of learning from the whole campaign, so we’ll try and do the same.

“It’s a young team and it’s wintertime. Winter hurling is very different from the game you play all summer.

“We were very poor in the first half,” Convery added of their win over Cootehill

“We did a lot better in the second half but all we’ve done was get another week’s hurling. We have to improve an awful lot but at least we have a chance to do so.

Lavey face a Cuchulain’s team who won a first-ever Armagh Intermediate Championship and put seven goals past Erne Gaels in their quarter-final last weekend.

“It’s a championship, they are all junior teams and you have to get yourself right, no matter who it is or who you’re playing against,” Convery said of this week’s mission.

“It’s heavy ground, so it’s heavy on the legs and it’s all about recovery now. It is just being the best you can be, and giving the best show of yourself whenever you get the chance to do that next week.

“At least we have given ourselves another week at it, so we have a chance of doing that. Can we play better? Of course, we can play as well as we’re allowed to play. You just have to overcome those obstacles whenever you come up against teams like that.”