Brian Edward Murphy (born 7 May 1983) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for League of Ireland Premier Division club Waterford.
Murphy played football and hurling with one of his primary schools, Killea BNS in Dunmore East. As a teenager, Murphy did not harbour ambitions to be a professional football player. He was involved in many sports as a child including gaelic football, hurling and rugby union. It was rugby that Murphy wished to pursue as a career, playing as an outside half for his school and club. He was also the kicker for his teams, and once confessed to being able to "boom a ball a long way from about 14 years old". This is now something that he has developed a reputation for as a professional goalkeeper. At 15 years of age, Murphy had rugby trials with Ireland but ultimately decided not to pursue when Manchester City offered him a place in their youth set-up.
Murphy spent four seasons with Manchester City where the competition for the number one jersey included David Seaman, Nicky Weaver and Carlo Nash, but made the 1st team bench on a number of occasions in the old 1st Division (second tier) and the Premier League. Loaned out to Oldham Athletic in 2002–03, he made his senior début during a loan period with Peterborough United that same season away to Brentford in League One in May 2003.
Murphy represented the Republic of Ireland Under-16 team at the 2000 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship and the Under-19 team at the 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. He was a regular in the Ireland under-19 squad under Brian Kerr and was preferred to Aston Villa goalkeeper Wayne Henderson for the European under-19 Championships qualifiers and finals in 2002 until a shoulder injury allowed Henderson to reclaim his place. He has been capped since at under-20 and under-21 levels.
On 6 November 2009, Murphy was called up to the Ireland squad for the World Cup Play-Offs against France following the withdrawal of Coventry City’s Keiren Westwood. He was not called up again until 3 March 2014 for the friendly versus Serbia following the withdrawal of Rob Elliot.
2000-2003 |
2003-2006 |
2007-2009 |
2010-2011 |
2011-2015 |
2015-2016 |