Realistic Daryl Murphy still looking to cap his best season yet

After the season he's had, there's been talk of interest from bigger-budget Championship outfits and even a suggestion that he might have earned himself another crack at the Premier League.

But Daryl Murphy insists that when the games against Scotland and England are out of the way and the summer's done, he'll be happy to report back to Ipswich again if that's what happens.

Mick McCarthy’s side, he says, lived up to its own expectations by making it to the play-offs, and Murphy had the season of his life. With a little money, he reckons, manager and players can push on.

“Next year, I think we need to make signings, because we need more players,” he says. “Hopefully, they give the gaffer the money to do that, because if we got to the play-offs this year and we add a bit more quality to our team, then who knows?

“At the start of this season, we said we were aiming for the play-offs. And we got into them, then just missed out unfortunately. Personally, it’s been the best season I’ve had, and I’m delighted with that.”

So all is pretty good for Murphy, who scored 27 goals in 51 games for club and country last year, with opportunities on the latter front so scarce that they barely merit a mention.

In the frame

His form has, however, kept him in the

Ireland

frame while team-mates such as Stephen and Noel Hunt have disappeared off the manager’s radar. As things stand, the brothers will not even be at Ipswich next year, although Murphy is not so sure he’s seen the last of them.

“Yeah, the gaffer doesn’t know what budget he has for next year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the lads again,” he says. “They’re great lads to have around, and if they don’t come back then they will be sorely missed.”

Murphy has previously lamented the fact that his games for Ireland have tended to be limited to late appearances from the bench, but a spell out of the squad put the complaint, insofar as it was one, in context. He insists that his return under Martin O’Neill helped give him the confidence to turn in the club season he has just managed.

Delighted

“I was delighted to get back in the squad after being out so long,” he says. “As I said before, getting the call-up gave me that bit more confidence; that’s probably why I got that many goals this season.”

On the face of it, his strike rate would suggest that he might be in contention for a start over the next couple of weeks, but Murphy is realistic about the prospect.

He acknowledges that he is in competition with one man, Robbie Keane, who he sought to model some of his own game on, and with others, such as Shane Long, who have been making a strong case of their own for some time.

“The manager has his own ideas about what he wants to do, [but] Robbie Keane is an unbelievable goalscorer and he’s just always in the right place at the right time to score,” Murphy says. “I’ve tried that myself in games, to get into positions in the box where I think the ball might drop, and a few times this season it has worked for me.”

It certainly has. And with Keane missing for Sunday’s game, the question now is whether O’Neill might think it would work for him.