Young Owls striker Caolan Lavery has this week joined up with the Northern Ireland Under-21 squad as they get set to face Italy and Cyprus in European Under-21 Championship qualification.
Lavery, who has made three appearances for the Owls this season and been a regular for the SWFC Development Squad, is looking forward to two stern tests over the international break.
He told swfc.co.uk: “We arrived in Italy on Monday night, trained Tuesday, had a double session today and play Italy on Thursday in our first qualifier, which will be a big test.
“We then face Cyprus in our second qualifier on Tuesday in Belfast so it will be a good experience for me to be involved in these games.”
The youngster has moved up the pecking order in S6 and made his debut against Burnley at Hillsborough in August and has since featured for the Owls against Millwall and Barnsley.
Although his first team experience with Wednesday has been limited to late substitute appearances, the striker believes it has done him the world of good, as he explained:
“It's been brilliant to be involved more this season. It's always hard coming into a game with five-ten minutes left, but it's done a lot for my confidence and I’ve been able to take that into my Under-21 games.
“My season started off well, scoring twice against Coventry for the Under-21s, and after that game, I became involved with the first team on matchdays.
“Since then, I scored two goals against Leeds and more recently two against Crewe, so I’m really pleased with six goals in three league games.”
Watch Lavery's two goals against Crewe below
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Lavery has said that the possibility of going out on loan could be the next step forward in his career.
The 21-year-old had a spell away from Hillsborough on loan with Southend last season and believes playing regular first team football on a temporary basis elsewhere, could only serve to benefit all parties.
He added: “I didn't get a good chance to stake my claim at Southend because of injury but the experience was brilliant, playing in front of a crowd and knowing what the result meant.
“It made me hungrier to come back and work my way into the first team at Wednesday.
“I want to be out playing competitive games every week. Playing in the Under-21 division is good but it's completely different when it comes to playing league football in front of a crowd with points on the line.”
