Brian Murphy

Murphy played football and hurling with one of his primary schools, Dunhill Ns 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.

Manchester City

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.

Swansea City

Brian Flynn signed him for Swansea City on a free transfer two months later, and he made 26 appearances for the club during the 2003–04 season. He was kept out of the first team in the following two seasons by the form of Frenchman Willy Gueret.

Bohemian

Murphy was one of the first players signed by Bohemians manager Sean Connor. He made an instant impression in pre-season friendlies, giving him the edge over on-loan Aston Villa goalkeeper Lee Boyle. Murphy kept 19 clean sheets in his 29 league games during the 2007 season to help "Bohs" to the best defensive record in the league. Murphy ended rumors linking him to Bristol City by signing an improved contract at Bohemians in November 2007. On 11 January 2008, he was voted "Goalkeeper of the Year" for the 2007 season by the Soccer Writers Association of Ireland. Murphy was voted (by the supporters) Eircom League of Ireland Premier Division Player of the Season for 2008 receiving 54% of the votes on eircomloi.ie, the league's official website…

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.

After retiring from playing, Murphy became goalkeeping coach at Waterford, the club where he had retired. On 2 May 2026, he was named interim manager of the club following the sacking of manager Jon Daly. He was in charge for one game, a 3–3 draw with Dundalk before the quick appointment of new manager Graham Coughlan.