Town have confirmed the signing of Sunderland striker or left midfielder Daryl Murphy on loan until the end of the season. The Blues are also hoping to tie up the signing of Murphy’s team-mate David Healy on a similar basis before this afternoon’s 5pm deadline.

Murphy was one of the first players linked with the Blues when Roy Keane took over as manager in April and almost joined Town in the summer, even passing a medical before the move broke down.

Personal terms and interest from Premier League Hull City led to the switch collapsing after a fee of £1.5 million rising to £2.5 million had been agreed with Sunderland for the former Waterford United man.

However, the potential move has resurfaced on a number of occasions during the following months and it’s little surprise that the deal has now gone through.

The 6ft 3in tall striker or left midfielder spent several spells on trial at Playford Road in the 2004/05 season when a Waterford United player before eventually deciding to join Mick McCarthy's Sunderland.

The 26-year-old, who had a spell on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in 2005, was a regular in Keane's Black Cats side.

Murphy was with Luton as a youngster and was sent out on loan at Harrow Borough prior to returning to Ireland to play with hometown club Waterford in 2002.

Capped nine times by the Republic of Ireland without scoring, Murphy won six caps with the Ireland U21 side while playing in the League of Ireland.

Murphy, who is contracted until 2012, has made 69 starts and 55 sub appearances for Sunderland, scoring 14 goals.

Capped nine times by the Republic of Ireland, Murphy has made four starts and three sub appearances for the Black Cats this season without scoring, appearing most recently in the 7-2 defeat to Chelsea earlier this month.

Coincidentally, he played youth football with recent Town signing the unrelated Brian Murphy when they were growing up in Waterford.

Photo: Action Images

agc232 added 16:13 - Feb 1 GET IN!
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dobbie73 added 16:14 - Feb 1 Keano knows him and can hopefully get the best out of him ... here's hoping!
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FootballsMyLife added 16:14 - Feb 1 Quality. Get Healy On Board Now!
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TractorBoy added 16:14 - Feb 1 good luck murphy up the town!
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finidigeorge88 added 16:14 - Feb 1 Left wing he will play up top healy and stead.
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BoxerBlue added 16:14 - Feb 1 Sweet welcome aboard Daryl
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MarkITFC added 16:17 - Feb 1 hope he is good and i hope all the boo boys automaticley dont hate him , u have to give him a chance. Hope this isnt the only signing , cos this anit our goalscorer. 1 more Chopra , McCormack , jackon someone like that would be gd businuss
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MazzaCOYB added 16:19 - Feb 1 None of those boys are going to be joining Markey but if we can get Healy then that will be more then I hoped for at the start of today and he could be our goalscorer!
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mistleyblue added 16:22 - Feb 1 Little and large combo that have probably been playing together in the reserves all season.... good move, should provide goals at our level
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SouperJim added 16:35 - Feb 1 Good positive move, Keane obviously rates him, he's still young, he's tall and he's proved he can score goals at this level. Here's hoping we get Healy too, I think Keane would be looking to play them together up front and they could prove to be a real handful!
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RobbieScarlatti added 16:38 - Feb 1 Come on your red and whites!
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Tractorog added 16:51 - Feb 1 Prepare to get your heart broken as the extra few hours the scots get to gin players mean Celtic poach Healy from under our noses
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SouperJim added 16:57 - Feb 1 Tractorog, lifelong Rangers fan Healy?
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AJblue added 16:57 - Feb 1 Healy confirmed on sky!!!!
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MazzaCOYB added 16:59 - Feb 1 Great news thats the one we wanted! Well done Roy these boys together could be interested, roll on Borough!
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AJblue added 17:00 - Feb 1 Healy confirmed on sky!!!!
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AJblue added 17:01 - Feb 1 Healy confirmed on sky!!!!
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NW10_Tractor added 17:01 - Feb 1 HEALY confirmed! A Natural poacher! Welcome aboard!
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byronitfc added 17:09 - Feb 1 HEALY CONFIRMED!!! YEEESSSS
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ITFC1985 added 17:10 - Feb 1 BBC has a story saying Healy is on board!! lets hope its true and he's able to turn his international form into championship form and fire us away from the relegation zone!! COYB!!!
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AJblue added 17:12 - Feb 1 such good news i had to say it 3 times!!!!!! sorry people, dont know what happened.
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ITFCson added 17:37 - Feb 1 I dont want to be too negative as i feel these 2 will be good additionsto our squad, however many of you seem to feel healy is our new "20 goal a season" man. At club level he has 81 goals in 322 appearances, and I think he may of hit the 20 mark once in a season in his career. So if he continues to score at a rate of 1 in 4 he might get us 4 or 5 goals this season, that said good luck to them both. Once again though we go to sunderland for players...any1 else s.bruce got on the blower to RK and said "if you allow me lad alex to go to leicester on loan then i will sractch your back"? On another note, looks like A johnson off to man city, which is a boost for us ahead of m'boro game

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16_Jack_ken_16 added 17:41 - Feb 1 woooo hoooo come on keano
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ipswich4life added 18:10 - Feb 1 great signing hope he's as good as lee martin well done keano another good bit of buisness (4 the black cats any ways)
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edd16 added 21:00 - Feb 1 lee martin is rubbish
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