Convery: Ulster final “just another match”

By Shaun Casey

THE quick turnaround between semi-final and final could help Lavey’s preparation ahead of Saturday’s Ulster JHC decider with Donegal representatives Burt, says boss Michael Convery.

The Derry champions defeated Cuchulainns of Armagh in last week’s semi-final, 0-21 to 2-6, and gained the upper hand over Monaghan’s Cootehill the week previous, coming away with 14 points to spare on that particular afternoon.

A short build-up to the showpiece will help focus Lavey, Convery explained. “We’re looking forward to it surely and sometimes maybe it’s better with the quick turnaround because you can protect the players from the build-up.

“It’s just another match so we’ll stick to the routine, and we’ll go again and just play it like another match, because you don’t really want to get carried away with the occasion.”

The quick turnaround can help build momentum in a team with wins coming on a weekly basis but can also have a negative impact in terms of injuries and fatigue, but Lavey are only looking at the positives of playing hurling at this time of year.

“Sometimes players carry injuries into matches and players become unavailable. We have got an awful lot of injuries – Shay Melaugh and James Sargent have cruciates and stuff and haven’t been there all year.

“We would have two or three other players that are carrying shorter-term injuries but are still not available for this campaign, but we still have plenty of good players and young players there that are able to step up.

“We don’t concentrate on the loss of players or the potential injuries. We have to take the positives because this time last year we’d have been happy enough to be in this situation.”

Burt are in the exact same boat and they have battled past Castlewellan of Down and Antrim’s Con Magees to reach the final, but Convery admits he doesn’t know too much about the opposition.

“I certainly don’t have any experience of playing against Burt, but we know they’re a very strong club and it’s only last year that they won the Donegal Senior Championship. They have a lot of Donegal county hurlers within their ranks,” he said.

One man Lavey will have to be concerned about is Burt star Liam Óg McKinney, who contributed 1-11 of their 1-15 last weekend and Convery believes the input of Derry manager Johnny McGarvey will help give him an overview of what his club are coming up against.

“We don’t want to get too hung up on the opposition but at the end of the day, a player that scored 1-11 in the semi-final, obviously it’s something that we’re going to have to consider,” Convery said of McKinney’s influence.

“Johnny McGarvey, who is in with us, he’d be familiar with some of those players from managing Derry, so we’ll have to make sure we have all our ducks in-a-row in that regard.”