Joe Eugene Murnan (born 28 September 1983) is an English darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.
Career
Murnan reached the last 40 of the 2010 World Masters, losing 3–0 to Ronald L. Briones.
Murnan qualified for the 2011 UK Open where he reached the last 32. He defeated Mark Dudbridge 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 and Dave Chisnall at the first Players Championship, before losing 6–4 to Andy Hamilton. 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 2015 German Darts Championship, Murnan beat Michael Barnard 6–5, Ian White 6–4 (averaged 99.72) and Brendan Dolan 6–4 to play in his first PDC quarter-final. He fell 4–0 down to world number one Michael van Gerwen, 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, Murnan won his first PDC title and the £10,000 first prize. His run included 6–3 and 6–4 victories over Premier League players Stephen Bunting and Dave Chisnall 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 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 on his Players Championship Finals 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 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 9–8 by Jelle Klaasen. 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 and again lost 6–5 to Cullen. He was also knocked out in the first round of the Players Championship Finals 6–0 by Jermaine Wattimena.
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 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, 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.
Murnan again immediately obtained his Tour card back in UK Q-School 2021. During the season he qualified for 2021 European Championship, making his debut at this major event. In the First round he los 4–6 with Adam Gawlas. At the end of the year, Murnan qualified for 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, returning to this venue for the first time from 2017. He won his First round match against Paul Lim 3–2, but lost in the Second round 2–3 with Nathan Aspinall.
Despite appearing only at 2022 UK Open, where he lost in the Second round, Murnan was able to hold his Tour card after finishing the season in top 64 at 63rd place, without qualifying for the World Championship.
In 2023 he played only at 2023 UK Open, losing in the Third round against Adrian Lewis 0–6. Throughout the year Murnan qualified for only one European Tour event and ended up outside of top 64 at the end of the year 2023, therefore he lost his Tour card. Having succeeded four times previously, Joe Murnan failed to get through Q School 2024 and missed out on a card for only the second season in 13 years.
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 2–3)
Performance timeline BDO Tournament 2010 2011BDO Ranked televised events World Masters 4R 2R
PDC Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023PDC Ranked televised events World ChampionshipDNQ2R1RDNQ 2RDNQ UK Open4R2RDNQ4R3R4RDNQ4R4R2R2R3R World MatchplayDNQ1RDNQ Did not qualify1RDNQ Grand SlamDNQRRRRDNQ DNQ1R1R1RDNQPDC Non-ranked televised events World Series FinalsNHDNQ1RDNQ Career statisticsPDC Year-end ranking-117 Received Tour card through Q School and started the season without ranking points10379 Received Tour card through Q School and started the season without ranking points433755100111 Received Tour card through Q School and started the season without ranking points8883 Received Tour card through Q School and started the season without ranking points6395
European Tour Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 2013Did not qualifyADO1RGDT1RGDCDNQGDM1RDDMDNQ 2014GDCDNQDDMDNQGDM1RDid not qualify 2015GDCQFGDT1RDid not qualifyEDM1REDGDNQ 2016DDMDNQGDMDNQGDT3REDM1RDid not qualifyEDT1REDG3RGDCDNQ 2017GDCDNQGDM1RDid not qualify 2019Did not qualifyIDO3RGDTDNQ 2021HDT2RGDT2R 2022IDODNQGDC1RGDGDNQADODNQEDODNQCDODNQEDG3RDDCDNQEDM1RHDTDNQGDO2RBDODNQGDTDNQ 2023BSDDNQEDOWDDid not qualifyHDT1RGDCDNQ
Players Championships Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 2012ALI1RALI1RREA1RREA2RCRA2RCRA4RBIR1RBIR1RCRA1RCRA1RBAR2RBAR1RDUB1RDUB2RKIL2RKIL1RCRA1RCRA1RBAR1RBAR1R 2013WIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG4RCRA1RCRA4RBAR2RBAR2RDUB1RDUB2RKIL1RKILPRWIG1RWIG1RBAR1RBAR2R 2014BAR4RBAR3RCRA4RCRA2RWIG1RWIG1RWIG2RWIG1RCRA2RCRA1RCOV3RCOV1RCRA2RCRA1RDUB1RDUB2RCRA1RCRA2RCOV1RCOV1R 2015 Not a Tour card holderBAR4RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RCOV1RCOV1RCOV2RCRA1RCRAWBAR3RBAR3RWIG4RWIG1RBAR1RBAR2RDUB3RDUB1RCOV4RCOV1R 2016BAR4RBAR3RBAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR3RBAR2RCOV1RCOV3RBAR3RBARQFBAR2RBAR2RBAR3RBAR3RBAR3RDUB2RDUB3RBAR2RBAR2R 2017BAR3RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RMIL2RMIL1RBAR1RBAR1RWIG4RWIG1RMIL2RMIL2RWIG2RWIG3RBAR3RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RDUB1RDUB3RBAR2RBAR3R 2018BAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR1RMIL1RMIL2RBAR1RBAR1RWIG2RWIG3RMIL1RMIL1RWIG1RWIG1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RDUB2RDUB1RBAR2RBAR1R 2019WIG1RWIG2RWIG1RWIG2RBAR1RBAR1RWIG2RWIG2RBAR2RBAR3RBAR2RBAR3RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RWIG1RWIG2RBAR1RBAR1RHIL2RHIL2RBAR1RBAR2RBAR2RBAR1RDUB2RDUB2RBAR4RBAR1R 2020BAR1RBAR1RWIG4RWIG2RWIG2RWIG1RBAR1RBAR3RMIL2RMIL1RMIL1RMIL2RMIL2RNIE1RNIE1RNIE1RNIE2RNIE1RCOV1RCOV1RCOV1RCOV3RCOV2R 2021BOL1RBOL1RBOL2RBOL1R MIL1RMIL2RMIL3RMIL2RNIE2RNIE1RNIE1RNIE2RMIL1RMIL2RMIL2R MIL1RCOV2RCOV2RCOV2RCOV1RBAR2RBAR4RBAR2RBAR1RBAR2RBAR1R BAR2R BAR1RBAR1RBAR2R 2022BAR1RBAR1R WIGQFWIG2RBAR1RBAR2R NIE2RNIE1RBAR2RBAR1RBAR2R BAR1RBAR1RWIG2RWIG1RNIE1RNIE3RBAR2RBAR1R BAR1R BAR3RBAR1RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RBAR2R BAR4RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1R 2023BAR1R BAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR1RBAR2RHILDNPHILDNPWIG1RWIG1RLEIQFLEI1RHIL2RHIL3RLEI1RLEI1RHIL2RHIL1RBAR1RBAR1RBARDNPBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1R
References
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