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Personal
Fullname: Daryl Michael Murphy
aka: Daryl Murphy
Born: 15 Mar 1983
Birthplace: Waterford, Ireland
Signed: 16 July 2010 (from Sunderland)
Left: 1 June 2013 (to Ipswich)
Position: Forward/Striker
Debut: Braga 3 – 0 Celtic, European Cup, 28th July 2010
Squad No.: 27
Internationals: Ireland
International Caps: 32
International Goals: 3
Biog
Daryl Murphy began his career at hometown club Waterford before winning a move to Sunderland FC in summer 2005, where he would remain for the next 5 years, making over 100 appearances in that time. During his spell at Sunderland he was twice loaned out, the first a 4 week loan to Sheffield Wednesday in 2005 and then to Ipswich for the second half of the 2009/10 season.
In summer 2010, new manager Neil Lennon brought Murphy to Celtic for an undisclosed sum (though the Daily Telegraph reported the fee as £800,000). Murphy’s first appearance in a Celtic shirt, for a Celtic XI against Lincoln City, brought a goal but not too many more would follow in that first season. A few weeks after Murphy signed, Celtic secured the signature of another Irishman, Anthony Stokes, and Murphy would be 4th choice striker for most of the season.
It wasn’t easy when he was put at the deep end in the games v Braga in the Champions League which saw Celtic beaten by 4-2 in aggregate (3-0 in his debut). He made up partly by scoring early on in the league against Motherwell and Kilmarnock in his first few domestic games, but after that he couldn’t get into his stride at Celtic. In fairness, with a new manager and a poor first half season for the team in general (it was almost curtains for manager Neil Lennon by turn of the new year) it wasn’t an easy environment. Maybe if he’d come into a more settled team then he’d have prospered more.
After a season of being a bit of a whipping boy for the more critical in the Celtic support with all the epithets to accompany their low opinion of him, Neil Lennon was willing to give him a rare try-out, and late on in a match v Dundee Utd (May 1st 2011) he was subbed on. In injury time he amazed and dazzled all (including himself probably) by winning the ball in the opposition half and then take on around four men, dribble round them with sublime skill and shoot perfectly into the back of the net. One of the goals of the season and for once all the Celtic support rose to applaud and laud him. An exceptional goal, something that he deserves plaudits for. At this point he now had more league goals than the then underperforming Georgios Samaras who got far less stick (and yet had played far more games).
Overall, no denying it was still a poor season for Daryl Murphy.
Despite concerns over the forward line, Daryl Murphy wasn’t given further chances into the start of the 2011/12 season which will have been a disappointment, and to assist him, a loan deal for the season was made to Ipswich for his services.
Daryl Murphy on his return from loan returned back to Ipswich (Celtic couldn’t settle a transfer fee). It was to be his third loan to Ipswich (once was before he was at Celtic). He ended up in Ipswich for so long that his family actually settled down there so hastening his wish to return. With the rise of Tony Watt, Daryl Murphy was pushed further back down the Celtic line of forwards.
He had now a final loan to Ipswich for a season after sitting on the bench as cover for a Champions League match with Celtic (he didn’t play). Effectively as it was his last season under contract to Celtic (2012/13), it marked that he was now actually finished at Celtic.
He’s lucky that others like Bangura have failed far worse than he had done at Celtic. Murphy never made any ridiculous ambitious boasts like Bangura so there was little criticism of Murphy at the end more that simply all agreed that he was just not good enough for Celtic’s then needs. Still, he had the memory to treasure of playing with Celtic and scoring a wonderful goal along the way (he did score three in total).
Bizarrely he stated: “I made up my mind about a year ago that when my Celtic contract was up, I wouldn’t be staying. I’ve been at Ipswich so long now that I feel like part of the furniture. My wife and children are also settled here and that’s always a major factor”. It’s more realistic to state that there was no chance he would be offered to stay at Celtic by the club at the end of the contract. His contract wasn’t going to be renewed as he had little achieved at the club. Funny way for him to try to spin the whole affair but it’s humorous if nothing else.
We wished him the best.
Post-Celtic
In time he settled into the side at Ipswich, and built up some form. In 2014-15, he had a glorious season scoring 27 goals to be the top scorer in the second tier. Sadly his strike partner was injured at season-end which hindered them and lost Ipswich their chance in the playoffs.
In an interview in 2015 following the matches for Ireland v Scotland in the Euros, he commented on his time at Celtic:
“I always go back to it – it was probably the wrong place at the wrong time. When I got injured Georgios Samaras and Anthony Stokes got something like a hat-trick each in midweek in a game and you know you are not going to play if they keep doing that, and they did, to be fair, all season. I can’t have any complaints, really. It was just bad timing for me.”
He was even incredibly touted for £4-5m in transfer fees in 2015 after that great season, reflective of the financial madness in English leagues rather than anything qualitative, eventually heading to Newcastle at 33 for £3m in 2016.
However, it should be noted that at a higher level, he still struggled badly as reflected in his woeful record for the Irish national side, taking him 23 games before he scored his first international goal in August 2016 at the age of 33 (his debut was in 2007) but an important one that salvaged a draw in a 2-2 match in World Cup qualifiers v Serbia. The management (which included ex-Celts Martin O’Neill & Roy Keane) had faith in his ability or maybe just an admission of the lack of real options available. Murphy had played for Ireland in the Euros in 2016, where again he was mostly poor but still got to experience some wonderful moments with the national side as they beat the odds to qualify out of the group stages before losing to finalists & hosts France.
In 2018, he served a suspension after failing a drugs test. He admitted to a “bad mistake” on taking cocaine on a night out. A sign of the changing times in society as much as in sport, he wasn’t the first sportsman and will not be the last.
He little played for Newcastle, so the transfer was little successful and he moved onto Notts Forrest, Bolton and then back to Ireland with Waterford. He retired from the playing side of the game in 2021.
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Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2010-2011 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 21 |
| Goals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Total Appearances | 18 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 21 |
| Total Goals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2010/11 Statistics | |||||||||||
| TEAM | Competition | GS | SB | G | A | SH | SG | FC | FS | YC | RC |
| Celtic | LC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Celtic | SPL | 9 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
GS: Games Started, SB: Used as Substitute,
G: Goals, A: Assists, SH: Shots, SG: Shots on goal,
YC: Yellow Cards, RC: Red Cards,
FC: Fouls Committed, FS: Fouls Suffered, SV: Saves, OF: Offsides,
W: Wins, D: Draws, L: Losses
Honours with Celtic
none