Two years later in 1982 Cummins won his ninth Munster hurling winners' medal following a 5–31 to 3–6 trouncing of Waterford. At one stage of that Munster final game Cork were nerally thirty points ahead when Cummins got through on goal. He could have sent the sliotar into the net for a goal, however, in a sporting gesture, he handpassed it over the bar. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Cork take on Kilkenny. 'The Rebels' were the red-hot favourites, however, Kilkenny surprised. Christy Heffernan scored two goals in a forty-second spell just before the interval to take the wind out of Cork's sails. Ger Fennelly got a third goal within eight minutes of the restart, giving Kilkenny a 3–18 to 1–15 victory. It was to be Cummins's last outing for Cork as he later decided to retire from inter-county hurling.