Joe Murnan



Joe Murnan (born 28 September 1983) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events.

Career
Murnan reached the last 40 of the 2010 Winmau World Masters, losing 3–0 to Filipino 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 Embassy 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 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.

PDC

 * 2016: Second round (lost to Alan Norris 1–4)