Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice says he's content with not welcoming Kieran Donaghy back until the summer's championship.

The 34-year-old Austin Stacks man will not be available to the Kingdom until after finishing his basketball duty with both Ireland and the Tralee Warriors, ruling him out of any remaining league action, which Fitzmaurice says he's fine by.

"That (call-up) won't affect his football," he told the Irish Examiner.

"What we decided going back to last December was Kieran would play basketball and train one night a week with us in the gym, which he is doing at the moment.

"What we said is that we'd leave the tail end of the league open, but the fact that the basketball is going so well at the moment, he'll see out the basketball and be back playing football again (after the league).

"I am happy with that. Sometimes, you want as many hands on the pump as possible. Other times, you just have to make a decision. My thing with him always was to have him for championship. 'If we have you before then, that would be bonus territory,' I told him.

"Once he's fully fit and ready to go football-wise and physically fit for championship, then I'm happy."

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