WITH EVERY SHOT in today’s play-off final, on every cross, one man will be watching Rob Green more intently than anybody else in Wembley.
It only takes the slip of a stud or the bounce of a ball for a game to change and if anything should happen to QPR’s number one, their hopes will rest on his deputy Brian Murphy’s shoulders.
With an estimated £120 million and a place in the Premier League on the line, that’s a lot of responsibility – especially for a man who has only played four first team games all season.
So Murphy wants to be prepared for every eventuality. But that’s how he has always done business since arriving at Loftus Road as a free agent three seasons ago.
It seemed like a golden opportunity for the Waterford stopper. QPR were newly promoted, back in the top flight for the first time in 15 years, and Murphy was competing against Paddy Kenny and Radek Cerny for the number one jersey.
He only played once that season, a run-out in the Carling Cup, but he was offered a new contract nonetheless.
That summer Green and Brazilian international keeper Julio Cesar arrived as well, two more top-quality obstacles in his path.
But despite relegation, interest from elsewhere and a frustrating lack of first-team action, Murphy never looked to move on.
Why?
“You’re in the situation as a so-called number two but I’ve never looked at it like that,” he told TheScore.ie ahead of this afternoon’s showdown with Derby County.
“I’ve always trained to play and unfortunately over the last couple of seasons, I haven’t played when I wanted to play. Bar that, you focus on training and you work hard and you’re ready when you’re needed.
“I thought I played quite well in the games I did play but again, it’s not enough. You want to play more.
I am ambitious but you have to be realistic as well. Some people might say he’s sitting on the bench and picking up a decent wage — but what do you do?
“Do you sacrifice your money and drop down a couple of divisions, or do you go to a lower Championship club where you still might not be guaranteed to play?
“There’s a lot you have to weigh up and you have to be a little bit realistic, especially as a goalkeeper. When you look at how many goalkeepers move in a season between the Premier League, Championship and League One, there aren’t many. It’s difficult to find the right place to play.”
“I’ve been lucky,” he continues. “I signed for QPR off the back of a broken ankle after turning down a contract at Ipswich. That was a risk — a slight risk, I kind of knew QPR were interested — but now I’m at a good club and I’ve just turned 31 so I’m not quite in my prime yet.
“Hopefully over the next three or four seasons I can get a few more games but I do have to be realistic. If someone’s nose is out of joint at QPR come the end of your contract, what do you do then because there are so many players out of contract these days? The game has changed massively.
You’ve got to weigh up everything and do what’s right for you overall, not just in the short term.
That same pragmatic approach served him well when the door opened a chink a couple of months ago. 1-0 up against Yeovil, Green was forced off with a chest injury and Murphy was summoned from the bench.
He played his part as Harry Redknapp’s side went on to seal a 3-0 win. When Green was still recovering by the time they played Sheffield Wednesday three days later, surely this was his chance?
Another player might look back on the circumstances that conspired against him on his only league start of the season and curse his luck — Richard Dunne was sent off in the first half and QPR’s 10 men lost 3-0 — but not Murphy.
“Rob had played 30 games before that or whatever it was at that stage of the season — I’d be lying if I said that if I had kept a clean sheet, I would have been disappointed not to play the next week.
“I’m always disappointed that I’m not playing because I’m always focused on the next game, the next game. You do your gym work, you do your training, but at end of the day the manager can only pick 11 players.”
His brief first team stint came in what turned out to be his busiest month of the season. A few weeks earlier, Murphy received a shock recall to the Irish international squad as cover for the friendly against Serbia.
“It kind of came out of the blue. I didn’t realise one of the keepers was out injured and I was out training on the Monday morning when a player liaison officer came and found me and handed me the letter.
He handed it to me and I thought ‘good one.’ We were due a couple of days off around then that I was looking forward to, and I thought he was winding me up.
“Roy [Keane] took me to Ipswich and so he obviously remembers me. Overall I think I did quite well for him there so maybe it was option to bring me in.
“Maybe I didn’t deserve it. I haven’t really played and I’m sure there were other keepers out there playing, and I’d be in the same position if I was playing and I wasn’t getting called up, but you take them when they’re there and you enjoy them.
“It has been 18 months or two years since I’ve been in the squad but it puts you back in the picture a little bit and people remember that you’re still there and still playing.”
Today’s not Murphy’s first time at Wembley, though he jokes about lifting the FA Cup while on a school tour as a youngster.
Eight years ago he tasted playoff glory as Kenny Jackett’s up-and-coming Swansea beat Barnsley on penalties to clinch promotion to the Championship.
He was on the bench as well that day, an unused sub, and though he’s a little bit older and a little bit wiser now, he’ll be every bit as ready if he’s called.
