Humble Cummins revels in historic day

WHEN the public address proclaimed Tipperary’s final substitute of the day in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, it took Brendan Cummins a few moments to register that he was the player to be withdrawn.

It was no reflection on the performance of the Ballybacon-Grange man that he was being benched before the final whistle. The motives of the Tipperary management for the decision were obvious. On a historic day when he matched Christy Ring’s record of 65 senior hurling championship appearances and with Tipperary out of sight on the scoreboard, this was a chance for the Premier faithful to acclaim the achievement of their goalkeeper.

And Cummins was left humbled by the applause that erupted.