Danny Murphy

Motherwell's Danny Murphy joined Dunfermline on a short-term loan in October 2007. The former Cork City defender has struggled to break into the 'Well first team this season under Mark McGhee and linked up at the Pars with Stephen Kenny whose knew him from the Eircom League.  He loan initially saw him stay at East End Park until 7th January but that was later extended to 27th January.

Speaking after the signing Stephen Kenny said "Danny is a tenacious full back with a very good left foot, that's been signed until 7^th of January and comes into the squad tomorrow."

The 24 year old full-back told the Motherwell club website "It's a good opportunity for me. Dunfermline have a lot of good players and I know of Stephen Kenny from my time in Ireland. Essentially I need to play games as it's not good for me to be sitting in the stand. I want to go there, get back match sharpness and prove myself good enough to get back into the Motherwell first-team."

London born, the full-back joined up with Motherwell on a two-and-a-half year deal on New Years Day 2007. Danny made the breakthrough into senior football with Queen's Park Rangers for whom he made 25 league and cup appearances between 2000 and 2003. From there Murphy spent a time on trial with Wycombe Wanderers before joining Swindon for a short spell in the early part of the 2003-04 campaign.

Danny Murphy tackling Adam Hammill

Danny was on the move again soon after joining non-league Margate before crossing the Irish Sea to sign for Cork City. It was a move that was the making of the player as he quickly established himself as one of the finest players in the Irish League, winning recognition by claiming a place in the annual 'Team of the Season' two years running. He became an integral part of the Cork City side during that time and earned the moniker 'The Cockney Rebel' from supporters who idolised him during his time at Turners Cross.

Having earned a fine reputation in Ireland, Motherwell fans were eager to see Danny in action. That soon came when the defender came on as a substitute at half-time for the injured Jim Paterson in a narrow and somewhat undeserved defeat against Rangers in early January 2007. With Paterson still injured, Danny made his first start for 'Well in the Scottish Cup tie against Airdrie and helped the Steelmen to a 1-0 victory over the Diamonds.

The remainder of the season proved to be a bit of a mixed bag for Murphy with some fine displays such as at Easter Road and Tannadice interspersed with some less encouraging outings as the defender sought to get to grips with Scottish football.