Hibs will wait until after Saturday’s match against Kilmarnock to determine whether Martin Boyle is fit enough to head off on international duty with Australia.

The Socceroo, who has been involved in three international friendlies this season, is due to join up with his countrymen for the World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh, in Melbourne on Thursday, and then away to Palestine, in Kuwait, on Tuesday, November 21. But, Hibs are still assessing his fitness after he was forced to exit last weekend’s Viaplay Cup semi-final prematurely.

The 30-year-old was listed as a substitute for the midweek trip to Paisley but he was not introduced to the action as St Mirren netted a late equaliser to deny the Leith side a win. Speaking at the time, manager Nick Montgomery said: “I could’ve played Boyley but I didn’t want to risk him. Coming off on Saturday, it would have been a risk playing him and the plan was to get him through to the weekend.”

Hibs' Dylan Vente, Dylan Levitt and Boyle during a training session on Friday.

Looking for their first win in eight games when they welcome Derek McInnes’ fourth-placed side to Easter Road in the Premiershio, Boyle – who is considered a talismanic performer – would be a welcome addition to the starting lineup. But, with so many games under his belt for club and country since returning from long-term injury, his club boss says he will have to assess the merits in allowing him to leave on international duty.

“We’ll deal with that after the game,” said Montgomery. “Him and [Congolese international] Rocky Bushiri, [as well as Boyle’s fellow Socceroo Lewis Miller] are all away so we’ll get through Saturday’s game and then deal with it. If we feel he’s good to go then there are no problems but if we feel there are any issues then our medical staff will speak with the Australian medical staff. You can either use international breaks to recover people or they can go and play for their country, so we’ll deal with it post-game.”

There is some consternation that the injury was picked up celebrating a goal that was controversially chalked off after a lengthy VAR deliberation at Hampden last weekend. It lead to a niggling pain behind his knee and having only returned to action in August, following a 10-month battle back to fitness following knee surgery, neither the player nor the club’s medical staff were ready to gamble on him seeing out the semi-final or returning to action too early.

“He felt something in his knee against Aberdeen – probably from doing that knee-slide after he scored,” explained Montgomery. “So, that’s another double whammy; he does a knee-slide for what I felt was a perfectly good goal – and a great goal from Martin – and maybe he jarred his knee a little bit and we can’t afford to take any risks. I might have to tell him to change his celebration, or maybe tell him to wait six minutes [the duration of Saturday’s VAR check] before he does a knee-slide…”

Hibs' Martin Boyle injured his knee while celebrating his disallowed goal against Aberdeen last weekend.

The club already have a sizeable injury list, with Christian Doidge and Adam Le Fondre missing from the attacking ranks. Right-back Chris Cadden has returned to training but he remains a long-term prospect, with Montgomery looking to phase him back into the team around the turn of the year.

Hibs mull over Martin Boyle Australia clearance after forward picks up injury celebrating disallowed goal