Donal Murphy – SkyBlueArchive

Position

Midfielder

Nationality

Place Of Birth

Dublin

Date Of Birth

February 23, 1955

Age

Games Played

Per Game

Games Started

0.8

Per Game

Minutes

3707

74.1

Per Game

Goals

0.2

Per Game

Assists

Per Game

Murphy was an outstanding young prospect in Coventry City’s youth team between 1971 and 1973. He had been spotted playing as a midfield player in the highly competitive junior leagues around Dublin where he grew up just a few doors from Joe Kinnear’s parents. He scored 40 goals in one season and was selected for his country’s schoolboy’s team. Unfortunately his two caps both ended in defeat, one of them 11-0 at the hands of England.

Donal could have moved to Manchester United or Leeds United but chose Coventry because of the superb facilities at Ryton and the hostel.

Donal was soon knocking in goals for the ‘A’ team and was a member of the youth team which won the Southern Junior Floodlit Cup in 1972 alongside many youngsters who would later progress to the first team, including Jimmy Holmes, Mick Ferguson, Graham Oakey and Alan Green. With Green and Ferguson the main strikers Donal played on the right wing. In the final against Chelsea, the Sky Blue kids were trailing 1-0 from the first leg but goals from Trevor Smith and Green pulled them level before Donal scored the winner four minutes from time with a cracking shot from an acute angle. His outstanding form won him international caps at youth level and a professional contract at City. Just over a year later however young Donal got homesick and returned to Ireland where he briefly played for Shamrock Rovers.

It would be another two years before Murphy broke through to the first team. He made his debut as a striker alongside David Cross at West Ham. He retained his place for the next three games and put on a superb display at Anfield, coming close to scoring in a 1-1 draw. Donal hit the headlines a week later by not only scoring his first City goal with a stunning header but also getting himself sent off for kicking out at Birmingham City’s Kenny Burns in the 3-2 victory.

He played 25 games that season, scoring five goals including stunning long-range efforts at Ipswich and Tottenham. His best goal came at Tottenham the following season when after being rested for several weeks he hit a 30-yard screamer which hit the iron stanchion and bounced out to the penalty spot. His days in the first team were numbered however with the emergence of Ian Wallace and he made only three appearances in 1977-78.

A loan spell at Millwall was followed by a permanent move to Torquay in May 1978. Twenty goals in 88 games for the Gulls earned him a £65,000 move to Plymouth in 1980. He scored eleven goals in 49 games for Argyle and was there at the same time as a young David Phillips. After a brief loan back at Torquay he signed for Blackburn in February 1982 but after a handful of appearances found himself out of the team.

In 1983 he moved back to Ireland playing for Bohemians, Drogheda United and University College Dublin (UCD). He won a runners-up medal in the FA of Ireland Cup final of 1984. That same year he played for UCD in the European Cup Winners Cup against Everton. Donal lives in a small village in County Kerry but did visit Coventry for a match, his first trip to Coventry for 30 years.

Red cards (1)
1975-76
29 November 1975 v Birmingham City H, violent conduct, kicking Kenny Burns

Football League First Division (England)

1977-1978

143′

1976-1977

1241′

6 (0)

1975-1976

1693′

4 (0)

3077′

10 (0)

FA Cup (England)

1976-1977

180′

1975-1976

270′

1 (0)

450′

1 (0)

League Cup (England)

1976-1977

180′

0 (0)

Totals:

3707′

11 (0)