[1] Born in Rathcormac, County Cork, Murphy first played competitive hurling whilst at school in St. Colman's College.
He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he first linked up with the Cork minor team, before later lining out with the under-21 and intermediate sides.
At club level Murphy has won a set of Munster and championship medals with Bride Rovers in the intermediate grade.
As a member of the Cork Institute of Technology senior hurling team, Murphy lined out in the final of the Fitzgibbon Cup on 1 March 2003.
Inniscarra provided the opposition and, despite being held on a tight rein in the opening quarter, Bride Rovers powered to the front with a goal in the seventeenth minute and never looked back.
[8] Bride Rovers later represented Cork in the provincial series of games and even reached the final against Kilruane MacDonagh's of Tipperary.
A strong wind made conditions very difficult, however, Bride Rovers triumphed by 0–14 to 0–11 giving Murphy a Munster medal.
On 28 September 2008 Murphy played in the final of the senior championship as Bride Rovers reached the decider for the first time in their history.
A goal by Robert O'Driscoll of Sarsfield's with seven minutes of normal time left proved the decisive score as Bride Rovers were narrowly defeated by 2–14 to 2–13.
The sides were level for much of the game, and in the final twenty minutes Cork scored nine points without reply and secured a 0–17 to 0–9 victory.
[23] While some had speculated that his decision was as a result of his opposition to the players' strike, Murphy was also known to have suffered from severe migraines which impacted on his playing.
The 0–23 to 0–15 defeat of Clare set up a Munster decider with Limerick, however, a shoulder injury in a club game a week later which looked to have brought an end to his season.
[25] Murphy recovered from injury and was named in the wing-back position on the starting Cork team to face Clare in the All-Ireland decider on 8 September.
[26] Three second-half goals through Conor Lehane, Anthony Nash and Pa Cronin, and a tenth point of the game from Patrick Horgan gave Cork a one-point lead as injury time came to an end.
Patrick Horgan top scored for Cork, however, further goals from Conor McGrath and Darach Honan secured a 5–16 to 3–16 victory for Clare.