Murphy is best remembered for scoring a last-minute goal to deny Kerry a record ninth successive title in the 1983 Munster final.
Murphy's performances at club level with Glanmire earned his inclusion on the Imokilly divisional team and he was at left corner-forward when St. Finbarr's were beaten in the 1984 final.
[8] After leaving the senior ranks and joining the Sarsfields junior team, he ended his club career by winning an East Cork JHL medal in 2001.
Murphy began his inter-county career as a dual player when he was selected for both the Cork minor hurling and football teams in 1973.
[11] By that stage Murphy had already been drafted onto the Cork senior football team and was an unused substitute in their defeat by Kerry in the 1976 Munster final.
He switched codes to join the Cork senior hurling team a year later and made his only championship appearance when he came on as a substitute for Gerald McCarthy in the 1977 All-Ireland final defeat of Wexford.
[12][13] Murphy subsequently committed solely to the Cork senior footballers and was off and on the team over the next few years, including further Munster final defeats by Kerry in 1979 and 1982.