Murphy started playing the game on a reduced-size table his parents bought him in order to keep him off the streets of his native Derry while growing up, before he moved to The Midlands when he was a teenager. Murphy turned professional in 1991, and represented Northern Ireland at the World Cup in 1996, and also had his highest-ranking finish of a quarter-final in the 1997 Welsh Open. He reached a career high ranking of 29th in &lt;a href="Snooker%20world%20rankings%201997/1998"&gt;Snooker world rankings 1997/1998&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="Snooker%20world%20rankings%201998/1999"&gt;1998/1999&lt;/a&gt;. He appeared in the 1998 World Championship where he lost 3–10 to Peter Ebdon. The following year he again reached the World Championship but was defeated 8–10 by John Parrott. He lost his professional status in 2005.