With Ireland opening the Championship against Italy in Croke Park on February 6 and two ‘A’ games in quick succession against England Saxons (January 31) and Scotland A (February 5), the squad reflects the competitive fixtures for Ireland over the next three weeks.
This squad will train together in Limerick before an ‘A’ squad is named on January 26. Additional players outside of the 44-man squad will be added to the ‘A’ squad from which the team to play the England Saxons will be named.
Murphy is one of nine uncapped players named in the 44-man selection.
Ireland coach Declan Kidney said: "When naming the squad, we had three main considerations, with the most important being the opening game against Italy, followed by the A games and further down the line with the Rugby World Cup.
“Building a squad has always been a priority and the work done during the first half of the season means there is a little more experience accumulated in the squad then we had a couple of months ago.”
Ireland Squad:
Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)
Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Ian Dowling (Shannon/Munster)
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
Declan Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)*
Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster)*
John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster)
Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)
Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Shane Jennings (St.Mary's College/Leinster)
Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
Fergus McFadden (UCD/Leinster)*
Kevin McLaughlin (UCD/Leinster)*
Johne Murphy (Leicester Tigers)*
Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster)
Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster)
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)*
Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
Dan Touhy (Ballymena/Ulster)*
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
Brett Wilkinson (Galwegians/Connacht)*
*Denotes uncapped player
