JOE Murnan may have broken into the top 50 in the world over the last couple of years, but he is far from satisfied.

The Bolton darts ace's steady progression has made him a fixture in the top events.

And he aims to continue his momentum until he is playing – and earning – at the level of the game's top stars.

Although Murnan has played in the biggest competitions the sport has to offer, such as the Professional Darts Corporation World Championships and Grand Slam of Darts, he still is not full-time and has to supplement his winnings from darts with a daytime job.

His ambition is to make enough money from his throwing talent to be able to give up work, which, in turn, would enable him to concentrate all his time and effort on practising and playing a sport in which he first showed promise at the age of eight.

Growing up, it is a mark of achievement for a boy to beat his dad at sport. And when Murnan's father bought his boy a dartboard for Christmas he found young Joe was a natural.

Son was beating dad by the age of 10 and has gone on to get some rather more notable wins under his belt such as against the likes of Raymond van Barneveld.

From those humble beginnings to his current standing inside the top 50 players on the PDC circuit, it has been a long journey for the man who honed his talent around the pubs and leagues of Bolton.

Murnan said: “I got selected for the county youth side at 16 and never took it seriously because I was normally out with the lads as a teenager.

“Then at 22 years old I had my first crack at the British Darts Organisation (BDO) tour.

“In my first year I finished level on points for World Championships qualifying but they had a two-year rule I didn’t know about.

“I won the Romanian Open that year and decided to go to the PDC where the big boys are, but I still didn’t take it seriously until the last few years.”

Late last year, 34-year-old Murnan made his first appearance at the Grand Slam of Darts, a tournament that pits the best players in the world against each other, including some of those who have not turned professional.

Despite an early exit from the competition in Wolverhampton, Murnan enjoyed the experience.

He said: “I loved every minute of the Grand Slam because I’d not had a great season.

“It was a bit nerve-wracking getting back on stage because I’d not been on it for about nine months.

“Unfortunately, I had the group of death with two of the most in-form players of the year.”

Defeats to Rob Cross, eventual winner Michael van Gerwen – in which Murnan checked out 119 – and Ross Montgomery consigned the Bolton man to an early exit from the tournament, and it is Dutchman van Gerwen whom he hopes to emulate.

He divulged: “Cross has made almost £200,000 this year and Van Gerwen has probably doubled that. He’s a multimillionaire and that’s the aim.

“He can practise for about six hours a day whereas I can only practise for two hours or so, and that’s the difference.”

Murnan cannot practise as much as he would like due to his work commitments in a darts shop that he has worked in since the age of 25.

But he did not get the job because of his love of darts.

He recalled: “One of my friends owns the shop and bet me I wouldn’t beat this lady in under 15 darts.

“I ended up getting a 14-dart leg so he had to give me a job.

“The people at work are generous with giving me time off for tournaments but I want to be able to give up work completely.

“If you can get into the top 16 in the world, you’re earning about £250,000 a year and that’s what I want to be doing.

“I know it’s achievable, I wouldn’t be playing if I didn’t think I could get to that stage.”

It seems very little Murnan has achieved has been done the conventional way, least of all his path to the PDC tour.

The traditional route is to enter the PDC qualifying school (Q school) in January and win one of the four tour cards on offer, giving players the chance to compete on the circuit for two years.

But Murnan went about it his own way.

He revealed: “It took me about four years to get going but I got enough ranking points from wins that I could get on to the circuit regardless.

“Then I won a ProTour which pushed me into the top 64 players and from there I played in the World Matchplay.

“I’m the only player who’s won a ProTour and not had a tour card.”

He added with a smile: “And if someone else does it, I can say I was the first.”

From there Murnan has pushed on to 47th in the world rankings, as of December 14, and does not expect to fall outside the top 64, which would result in him needing to enter Q school to regain a place on the tour.

The 34-year-old ended the season with a close defeat in World Championship qualifying, just two days after a narrow loss to Dave Chisnall at the Players Championships in Minehead.

Despite losing, Murnan says he always enjoys playing against world number eight Chisnall.

He said: “I look forward to playing Dave because we’ve got history.

“I beat him when I won my ProTour and there was £10,000 up for grabs that day, but then he battered me the last time we played before the Players Championships.”

Despite his hopes of reaching the top 16 soon, Murnan tries not to set himself too many targets.

“I don’t really set goals. If I don’t set any goals then I can’t have too much disappointment if they don’t go right,” he said.