Minor and under-21

Cunningham first played for Cork as a dual player during the 1978 Munster Championships; however, it was with the hurling team that he had his greatest successes. On 30 July 1978, he won a Munster Championship medal after lining out in goal in the 1-14 to 3-06 defeat of Tipperary in the final. On 3 September 1978, Cunningham was again selected in goal when Cork faced Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. He ended the game with a winners' medal after the 1-15 to 1-08 victory.

On 8 July 1979, Cunningham won a second successive Munster Championship medal, however, an injury ruled him out of the 3-17 to 4-04 defeat of Limerick in the final. For the second year in succession, Cork qualified to play Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. Cunningham - who was restored to the starting fifteen - ended the game with a second successive All-Ireland medal after the 2-11 to 1-09 victory.

Cunningham subsequently joined both the Cork under-21 hurling and football teams. He collected a set of Munster and All-Ireland medals with the under-21 footballers as an unused substitute in 1981, following respective provincial and All-Ireland decider defeats of Kerry and Galway.

The following year Cunningham added a Munster medal with the under-21 hurlers to his collection. Galway were the opponents in the subsequent All-Ireland decider on a day when both defences gave superb displays. Cork came from behind in the closing stages to win by a single point, scored from long range by Kevin Hennessy. It was yet another underage All-Ireland medal for Cunningham.

Senior

In 1979 Cunningham was still a member of the Cork minor hurling team when he joined the county senior panel. He made his senior debut in May 1980, lining out against Kilkenny in a challenge match. Cunningham replaced Timmy Murphy as Cork's first-choice goalkeeper the following year and remained an ever-present fixture for the best part of twenty years.

In 1981 Cunningham enjoyed his first major success at senior level when he won a National Hurling League medal following a victory over Offaly.^[8] Success in the championship eluded him until 1982 when he collected his first senior Munster title following a 5–31 to 3–6 drubbing of Waterford. The subsequent All-Ireland final pitted Cork against Kilkenny, with 'the Rebels' installed as the red-hot favourites. All did not go to plan as Kilkenny dominated. Christy Heffernan was the hero of the day as he scored two goals in a forty-second spell just before half-time. Ger Fennelly captured a third goal in the second half as Kilkenny completely trounced 'the Rebels' by 3–18 to 1–15.^[9]

Cunningham claimed a second Munster title in 1983 as Waterford fell heavily by 3–22 to 0–12 for the second consecutive year. After defeating Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final Cork squared up to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final for the second year in-a-row. Once again Kilkenny dominated the game, assisted by a strong wind in the first-half, and hung on in the face of a great fight-back by Cork. At the full-time whistle Kilkenny emerged victorious by 2–14 to 2–12.^[9] For the second consecutive year Cunningham had ended up on the losing side on All-Ireland final day.

These two defeats only made Cunningham and Cork more determined to bounce back in 1984. That year he claimed a third Munster title in-a-row following a classic victory over an unlucky Tipperary side. This victory allowed Cork to advance to a third consecutive All-Ireland final. It was a special year for followers of hurling and football as the Gaelic Athletic Association was celebrating its centenary year. As a gesture to Thurles, the cradle town of the association, the All-Ireland final was played in Semple Stadium that year. Offaly provided the opposition and, ironically, it was the first meeting of these two sides in one hundred years of Gaelic games. The game was a triumph for Cork, who won by 3–16 to 1–12 courtesy of second-half goals by Kevin Hennessy and Seánie O'Leary.^[9] At the third time of asking Cunningham had finally collected his first senior All-Ireland medal. He was later presented with his first All-Star award.

In 1985 Cunningham was appointed captain of the Cork senior hurling team for the first time. That year he guided his team to a fourth successive Munster title as Tipp were defeated once again. Cork were subsequently caught on-the-hop by Galway in a rain-soaked All-Ireland semi-final. In spite of this he was later presented with second All-Star award.

Cork continued their dominance in Munster in 1986 with Cunningham capturing a record-equalling fifth Munster medal in-a-row as Clare were accounted for. A subsequent defeat of Antrim allowed Cork to advance directly to the All-Ireland final where Galway provided the opposition. Galway were the red hot favourites to take the title and defeat Cork for the first time in a championship decider. The pundits and commentators got it wrong as an open game of hurling saw Cork score 4–13 to Galway's 2–15.^[10] A four-point win gave Cork the title and gave Cunningham a second All-Ireland medal. He was later presented with a third consecutive All-Star. Cunningham was also honoured by being named Texaco Hurler of the Year.

Over the next three years Tipperary re-emerged as the kingpins of Munster hurling as Cork's fortunes took a downturn. One of the lowest points in Cunningham's career happened during this drought for Cork hurling. Playing against Waterford in 1989 Cunningham received a heavy knock to the head and spent the remainder of the game in a daze, conceding three goals.^[5]

Cork were back in 1990 and, against all the odds, they wrestled the Munster title from Tipperary after Babs Keating's famous 'donkeys don't win derbies' remark. It was Cunningham's seventh provincial title. The subsequent All-Ireland final that year pitted Cork against Galway for the second time in four years. Once again, Galway were the bookies favourites and justified this tag by going seven points ahead in the opening thirty-five minutes thanks to a masterful display by Joe Cooney. Cork fought back with an equally expert display by Tomás Mulcahy. The game was effectively decided on an incident which occurred midway through the second half when Cunningham blocked a point-blank shot from Martin Naughton with his nose. The umpires gave no 65-metre free, even though he clearly deflected it out wide. Cork went on to win a high-scoring and open game of hurling by 5–15 to 2–21.^[11] It was Cunningham's third All-Ireland medal and the first of a remarkable hurling and football double for Cork.

Cunningham claimed his seventh Munster medal in 1992, however, Cork faced the old enemy Kilkenny in another All-Ireland final. Prior to the game Kilkenny won the toss, however, 'the Cats' chose to play against the wind. At half-time his side were only two points in arrears thanks to a D.J. Carey goal four minutes before the interval. John Power and Michael Phelan added two second-half goals to give Kilkenny a 3–10 to 1–12 win.^[11] It was the third time in his hurling career that Cunningham had been beaten by Kilkenny in a championship decider.

In 1993 Cunningham won a second National Hurling League medal with Cork. Although he would remain as Cork goalkeeper for another few seasons Cunningham would never win another Munster or All-Ireland title. His final winners' medal came in 1998 when he claimed a third National League medal. Following Cork's defeat in the early stages of the championship Cunningham decided to retire from inter-county hurling. At the age of 37 he had donned the famed red and white hooped jersey for almost 20 years, during which time he made 50 consecutive championship appearances while also playing in 111 National League games.^[5]