After defeat at the hands of Glen Rovers in 1976, it took Blackrock two years before they qualified for their next county final. Glen Rovers were the opponents once again, with the game remaining on an even keel for 40 minutes. Blackrock took over for the last period, winning the game by 4-12 to 1-7. It was Cummins's fifth championship medal. Once again the Rockies stormed through the provincial championship and defeated Newmarket-on-Fergus by 3-8 to 1-8 in the decider, giving Cummins a third Munster medal. On 25 March 1979, Blackrock faced Ballyhale Shamrocks in the All-Ireland final. The first half was completely dominated by the Rockies who opened the scoring with a goal from a 21-yards free by Pat Moylan in the first minute. Two further goals by Cummins in the 17th and 18th minutes put Blackrock ahead by 3-2 to 0-2. A third goal by Éamonn O'Sullivan helped them to reach half-time in the comfortable position of being 12 points ahead. Blackrock appeared to have the game wrapped up when Tom Lyons whipped through a goal to leave them 14 points ahead with just a quarter of an hour left to play. Ger Fennelly pointed a free to reduce the deficit for Ballyhale, before Pat Holden, Kevin Fennelly and Liam Fennelly scored three goals without reply. Moylan pointed to reinforce the lead for Blackrock, however, a long shot from out the field landed in the Blackrock square before Brendan Fennelly got the final touch to send it over the line. The referee originally signalled a free to Blackrock, however, after consulting with his umpires he awarded the goal. This left the Shamrocks trailing by two points, however, they failed to score in the remaining time as the Rockies won by 5-7 to 5-5. For the third time in his career Cummins had collected an All-Ireland medal.