Joe Murnan (born 28 September 1983) is an English
darts
Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard.
Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...
player who plays in
Professional Darts Corporation events.
Career
Murnan reached the last 40 of the
2010 Winmau World Masters
The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...
, losing 3–0 to
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
Ronald L. Briones.
Murnan qualified for the
2011 UK Open where he reached the last 32. He defeated
Mark Dudbridge
Mark "Flash" Dudbridge (born 11 January 1973) is an English professional darts player. He appeared in the 2005 Premier League Darts after reaching the final of the 2005 PDC World Darts Championship. He also is a former World Master and has rea ...
9–8 in a close affair, before losing to the 1995
BDO World Darts Champion Richie Burnett 9–6.
In March 2014, he reached the last 32 of the
UK Open again, this time being beaten 9–3 by
Raymond van Barneveld. Later in the month he progressed to the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time as he beat the likes of
Dean Winstanley
Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player.
He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...
and
Dave Chisnall
Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champion ...
at the first
Players Championship, before losing 6–4 to
Andy Hamilton
Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor.
Early life and education
Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...
. He won through to the same stage of the third event where he was defeated 6–1 by
Gary Anderson. Murnan also qualified for the
German Darts Masters, but was eliminated 6–2 by
Andy Smith in the first round.
In February 2015 at the
German Darts Championship, Murnan beat
Michael Barnard 6–5,
Ian White 6–4 (averaged 99.72) and
Brendan Dolan
Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is best known for becoming the first player to hit a ...
6–4 to play in his first PDC quarter-final. He fell 4–0 down to world number one
Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...
, before closing to 4–3 with a 12 dart leg, but went on to lose 6–4.
In May 2015, at the 10th
Players Championship in
Crawley
Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...
, Murnan won his first PDC title and the £10,000 first prize. His run included 6–3 and 6–4 victories over
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
players
Stephen Bunting
Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former Wor ...
and
Dave Chisnall
Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champion ...
in the quarter-finals and final, respectively. The win saw him qualify for the
World Matchplay for the first time and he trailed
Adrian Lewis
Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...
7–2 in the opening round. Murnan won four successive legs, but went on to be beaten 10–7 on his televised debut. He was whitewashed 6–0 by
Dave Chisnall
Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champion ...
on his
Players Championship Finals
The Players Championship Finals is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament originally featured the top 32 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit, a separate ranking system that only takes int ...
debut.
Murnan's title saw him finish the third highest of the non-qualified players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit for the
2016 World Championship. He played 2012 runner-up
Andy Hamilton
Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor.
Early life and education
Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...
in the first round and, having trailed 2–1 in sets (missing five darts to lead 2–1 himself) and 2–0 down in legs, Murnan managed to pull off a comeback victory to set up a second round match with
Alan Norris, which he lost 4–1. He was knocked out in the fourth round of the
UK Open
The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...
9–8 by
Jelle Klaasen
Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win the ...
. Murnan's first quarter-final of 2016 was at the 11th
Players Championship event and he was edged out 6–5 by
Joe Cullen. He qualified for the
World Series of Darts Finals
The World Series of Darts Finals is a non-ranking darts tournament held by the Professional Darts Corporation. It is classed as a PDC premier event. The tournament was held annually in November, but in 2020, it moved to September, and moved to O ...
and again lost 6–5 to Cullen. He was also knocked out in the first round of the
Players Championship Finals
The Players Championship Finals is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament originally featured the top 32 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit, a separate ranking system that only takes int ...
6–0 by
Jermaine Wattimena
Jermaine Wattimena (born 9 March 1988) is a Dutch darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments.
Career
Wattimena won the first event he entered as he claimed the 2008 Malta Open by beating Vincent Busuttil in t ...
.
Mark Webster defeated Murnan 3–0 in the opening round of the
2017 World Championship.
Murnan lost his PDC Tour Card at the end of 2018 despite managing to qualify for the
Grand Slam of Darts
The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invited the best performing players from its rival, the British Dart ...
for the second consecutive year. However, he won it straight back at UK Q-School in January 2019 via the Order of Merit, sealing at least another two years on the ProTour.
During
UK Open 2020, he defeated
Harald Leitinger and
Karel Sedláček
Karel Sedláček (born 17 February 1979) is a Czech darts player.
Career
Sedláček qualified for the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship playing Paul Hogan in the preliminary round, losing 1–3. He qualified for the 2014 BDO World Trophy, won i ...
, making it again to the fourth round. There he lost 4-10 to
Ricky Evans. He did not qualify for any other major tournaments and after losing in the deciding match and deciding leg to
Ciaran Teehan during UK Qualification for
PDC World Darts Championship 2021 he lost a chance to maintain his Tour card.
World Championship results
PDC
*2016: Second round (lost to
Alan Norris 1–4)
*2017: First round (lost to
Mark Webster 0–3)
*2022: Second round (lost to
Nathan Aspinall
Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 UK Open with a 170 checkout in the final leg against former World Champion Rob Cross.
...
2–3)
Performance timeline
BDO
PDC
PDC European Tour
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held; (EX) Excluded; (WD) Withdrew
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murnan, Joe
English darts players
Living people
1983 births
British Darts Organisation players
Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders
PDC ranking title winners