Barry-Murphy made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he first linked up with the Cork minor teams as a dual player.
As a member of the Munster inter-provincial team in both codes, Barry-Murphy won a combined total of five Railway Cup medals.
[citation needed] In 1974 Barry-Murphy won his first county club championship winners' medal following a 2–17 to 2–14 defeat of arch-rivals Blackrock.
Barry-Murphy won a third county club championship winners' medal as Glen Rovers fell in the final.
At senior level Barry-Murphy won his first county club championship winners' medal in 1976 following a 1–10 to 1–7 defeat of St Michael's.
[citation needed] The 1980–81 club championship season saw St Finbarr's make another clean sweep of county, provincial and All-Ireland titles.
It was a successful year for the young player as he won his first Munster winners' medal following a 5–12 to 1–15 thrashing of arch-rivals Kerry.
[12] Barry-Murphy later lined out with Cork in an All-Ireland final against Galway and proved to be one of the stars of the game, scoring the first of his two goals after just two minutes.
One of these goals, where he receives a pass, cheekily solos the ball and waits to pick a spot in the net was chosen as one of RTÉ's Top 20 GAA Moments in 2005.
[15] Wexford provided the opposition, however, Cork won by 2–10 to 4–2 and Barry-Murphy secured an All-Ireland winners' medal in that grade.
A Seánie O'Leary goal, together with some brilliant saves by goalkeeper Martin Coleman helped Cork to a 1–17 to 3–8 victory and a second All-Ireland winners' medal for Barry-Murphy.
Cork lost their provincial crown in 1980, however, Barry-Murphy continued with his winning ways by capturing a National Hurling League winners' medal.
In 1982 Cork were back and Barry-Murphy, who was now captain of the team, won his sixth Munster winners' medal following a 5–31 to 3–6 trouncing of Waterford.
Barry-Murphy won a seventh Munster winners' medal before leading his team in a second All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.
Kilkenny dominated the opening half while Cork came storming back with goals by Tomás Mulcahy and Seánie O'Leary.
The subsequent All-Ireland final, played at Semple Stadium in Thurles, saw Cork take on Offaly for the first time ever in championship history.
The centenary-year final failed to live up to expectations and Cork recorded a relatively easy 3–16 to 1–12 victory with Barry-Murphy winning his fourth All-Ireland winners' medal.
Barry-Murphy added a ninth Munster winners' medal to his collection in 1985, however, Galway shocked Cork once again in an All-Ireland semi-final.
That year a defeat of Clare by Cork made it five-in-a-row in Munster, with Barry-Murphy collecting a record-equaling tenth provincial winners' medal.
An All-Ireland final against Galway with the men from the west being regarded as the red-hot favourites against an ageing Cork team, however, on the day a different story unfolded.
Four Cork goals, one from John Fenton, two from Tomás Mulcahy and one from Kevin Hennessy, stymied the Galway attack and helped 'the Rebels' to a 4–13 to 2–15 victory.
The announcement, edged in black, was spread across page one of the national newspapers in a style more familiar to the death of world leaders.
After losing out at the semi-final stage in his debut year, he went on to win four Railway Cup winners' medals in-a-row over the next four seasons.
In his first year in charge in 1994 he guided the county to a Munster title, however, his side were later defeated by Galway in the All-Ireland final.
In the Munster semi-final Cork were trailing Clare by a single point and looked capable of winning or at least securing a draw.
This success meant that the team went into the championship with great expectations, however, the Munster semi-final saw Clare defeat Cork on a score line of 0–21 to 0–14.
Cork were victorious by a single point and Barry-Murphy had finally led his county back to the All-Ireland title.
Once again, the experts predicted a Cork-Kilkenny final, however, Offaly were waiting in the All-Ireland semi-final and duly defeated Cork.
[22] On 6 September 2011, Barry-Murphy was re-appointed as Cork senior hurling team manager with a contract until the end of the 2014 campaign.
[28] He worked as a director for Southern Business Finance, where his colleagues included All-Ireland winners Dinny Allen and Brian Murphy.