hello mate - that stuff is rock hard. The only tip I have for you sit the pipes in
hot water for a few seconds before you work on them. It is the standard irrigation fitting - it is a pain but once it is in it stays put nicely.
What you could do also so you dont have to connect/disconnect anything for any purpose is to have it like this: Pump, pipe, drippers, inline tap, pipe, end stop. This way you can always leave the pump there but use teh tap to either feed the drippers by closing the tap, or open it up to the stopper where you can add a hose or something to drain and clean up etc..does that make any sense at all?