Murphy scored five goals in Birmingham's run to the 1956 FA Cup Final, in which they lost 3–1 to the Don Revie-inspired Manchester City. This match is best remembered for the incident where Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann was injured when he dived at Murphy's feet to collect the ball, but played on in considerable pain for the last 15 minutes of the match without realising he had broken one of the vertebrae in his neck. The following season Murphy scored another four goals in Birmingham's FA Cup run, which ended this time in semifinal defeat to Manchester United's Busby Babes.