Cullen: 'I knew I was going to win'

Joe Cullen (PDC)

Joe Cullen explained there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to win the European Darts Matchplay in Mannheim on Sunday night.

Cullen landed his maiden European Tour title with an impressive 8-5 victory over world number one Michael van Gerwen in the final.

The 30-year-old, who now has three PDC ranking titles to his name, gave an insight to his mindset on what turned out to be one of the biggest days of his career to date.

"I knew I was going to win, it was a really strange feeling," said Cullen, who is now back in the world's top 16.

"I genuinely couldn't see how I could lose today, the feeling of knowing you're going to win is so calming.

"I expected myself to be nervous in the final when I was going for the winning double but there wasn't an ounce of nerves in my body because of that feeling I had.

"One hundred percent it's about time I got to a European Tour final, let alone winning one. It's been a long time coming.

"To beat the man himself MvG in the final is a dream come true, I can't put into words how happy I am at the minute.

"Hopefully this will get me into the Grand Slam, because somehow I've never played that tournament in my career.

"If I'm good enough to win one of these then I'm good enough to win a major."

Cullen will return to ProTour action on Tuesday and Wednesday at Players Championships 23 and 24, with live action shown on video.pdc.tv.