In the 2011–12 season, Connacht qualified for their first ever Heineken Cup. Ahead of Connacht's first season in the top tier of European rugby, the team signed another scrum-half, Paul O'Donohoe from Leinster. Murphy remained Connacht's first choice in the position, playing 20 games in the 2011–12 league, which had been renamed the "Pro12". In the Heineken Cup, however, Murphy started only two of the side's six games, coming on as a replacement in a further two.