"I think the last two races of the fleet racing series I threw away any medal chances. I got a 40th and 30th and that dropped me down the fleet," he concedes.
Reflecting on the bigger picture, Junior says he is pleased to have made up ground after missing a top 10 finish at last year's Finn Gold Cup hosted in Auckland.
"But it is nice to bounce back into the top five after a 14th in Takapuna, so just continue like that for the rest of the year and we'll be looking good going into the Olympics."
Speaking generally of this regatta in Barcelona, Junior says, "It's a pretty awesome fleet we had here with 90 boats and some pretty good sailors, so I think it's been a great week, though a bit unfortunate with the light breeze for a lot of a it but still, we had some great racing in the end."
The title of 2016 Finn European Champion went to Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) who held onto his penultimate day lead to win the crown. Hungary's Zsombor Berecz won the silver medal and Croatia's Milan Vujasinovic won bronze.
Murdoch improved his final position in the regatta after today. In the final fleet race he finished 17th to lift one spot to 19th overall in the fleet of 90 boats.
In five months, on August 9, racing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Regatta gets underway on Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro.
The Kiwi men campaigning in the Finn are ultimately aiming for selection to the New Zealand Olympic Team to Rio 2016 and it is likely to be one of the toughest decisions selectors will face.
The next events on the European circuit include Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca from March 2- April 2, and then Sailing World Cup Hyeres Regatta in France from April 25-May 1.
John Cutler, Olympic bronze medallist in the Finn at Soeul 1988, is coach to the NZL Sailing Team Finn squad.