Brendan Cummins has no plans to retire after winning his second All-Ireland medal on Sunday.

While the 35-year-old goalkeeper stopped short of confirming his involvement next year when he visited Crumlin Children's Hospital yesterday, he made it known that his appetite for the game remains as great as ever.

"Absolutely. I love the game," said Cummins, who had waited nine years to win his second Celtic Cross.

"I love playing it and I love playing with these fellas because of the energy and enthusiasm they have, the carefree spirit. And then Liam's leadership and Eamon O'Shea's training with Mick Ryan in the background, takes it all to a new level. I'm going to miss not training Tuesday and Thursday nights!"

The Ballybacon-Grange clubman, who has made 62 championship appearances for the Premier County, admitted that September glory seemed a million miles away after Tipp's 10-point drubbing at the hands of Cork in their Munster championship opener.

"We looked dead and buried in June this year. Then the qualifiers were kind to us and suddenly we won a game against Galway that we shouldn't have won. Next thing you know, you're in an All-Ireland final and you've won it. It's been amazing."

He continued: "The Cork game this year was enough for these bunch of players to never again have to worry about being lackadaisical or complacent or not performing on the day.

"There will be ups and downs, fellas won't play well and will have to come off, but to have a full 15 not performing and five coming in not performing isn't acceptable. To be fair, we managed our way through that crisis and it was a good lesson. A lot of the young fellas have experience. Noel McGrath is only 19 and he's already lost an All-Ireland and won one. These fellas are nearly household names and they're just out of diapers." Tweet

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