In the Northern Ireland Trophy (a ranking event in this season), he lost 4–5 to Stephen Lee in the quarter-finals, and in the UK Championship, he lost 3–9 to Alan McManus in the second round. A 3–6 defeat by Stephen Hendry in the quarter-finals of the Masters was followed by his second ranking title, when he defeated Ryan Day 9–4 in the final of the Malta Cup. After the victory, he said it was a relief to get rid of the one-hit wonder label. In his next match, a victory over Jamie Cope in the Welsh Open, he scored centuries in four consecutive frames, becoming only the second player to do so (after John Higgins in the 2005 Grand Prix final) and the only person to achieve this in a best-of-nine-frames match. He went on to lose 3–5 to Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. In the World Championship, Murphy defeated Matthew Stevens 13–12 in the quarter-finals—recovering from 5–11 down and knocking Stevens out of the top 16—before losing 16–17 against Mark Selby in the semi-finals.