At inter-county level, he captained Cork to win the 1990 All-Ireland Championship; he had earlier claimed a first winners' medal as centre-forward on the 1989 All-Ireland-winning team.
As well as being a successful captain for club and county, Tompkins was also selected for Leinster and Munster in the Railway Cup.
Tomkins later trained as a carpenter; however, at a time when unemployment was rife in Ireland, he spent much of the early 1980s working in the United States.
Further success followed in 1983 when Eadestown, with Tompkins playing a key role, secured a county intermediate championship title.
Tompkins was captain as Castlehaven defeated the famous St. Finbarr's club to take the county senior championship title in Cork.
[2] Castlehaven's great run of success came to an abrupt end in the All-Ireland semi-final when the club was defeated by eventual champions Baltinglass.
[3] Five years later in 1994 Tompkins secured a second county championship winners' medal following a victory over nearby rivals O'Donovan Rossa.
A second Munster club winners' medal later followed for Tompkins as Castlehaven defeated Clomnel Commercials of Tipperary.
[4] 1997 saw Castlehaven lose the county final to Beara, however, the club later represented Cork in the provincial series of games.
The county board had been paying for his flight tickets, however, they decided to stop this and Tomkins found the expense too great.
As a result of this he never played with his native-county again and faced the prospect of prematurely ending a promising inter-county career.
In 1987 Tompkins's performances for Castlehaven brought him to the attention of the Cork senior football selectors under legendary goalkeeper Billy Morgan.
Mid-way through the first-half Cork had a goal chance blocked by Mick Lyons when Jimmy Kerrigan looked to be through for a seven-point lead.
A fourth consecutive All-Ireland final appearance quickly followed, with old rivals Meath providing the opposition.
Cork suffered a blow in the first-half when Colm O'Neill was sent off; however, Tomkins's fellow Kildare county man, Shay Fahy, was playing a blinder at midfield.
This victory was all the more special as the Cork hurling team had already won their respective All-Ireland title a fortnight earlier.
Cork lost their provincial titles for the next few seasons and a series of injuries nearly brought Tompkins's career to an end.
[15] In 1995 Tompkins won a sixth Munster title, a record-breaking seventh in nine seasons for Cork, as Kerry fell in the provincial decider.
Although he didn't enjoy any success with the team, it was Tompkins's coaching that helped the county to contest three consecutive Munster under-21 finals between 1993 and 1995.
[17] In late 1996 Tompkins succeeded Billy Morgan as manager of the Cork senior football team.
The county board had faith in Tompkins who was attempting to put together a new team following the retirements of some of the great players from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Tompkins began the year by guiding Cork to a National League title following a 0–12 to 1–7 victory over Dublin.
[18] Shortly after this victory he steered his adopted county to a Munster football decider against arch-rivals Kerry.
In an exciting game that saw the lead switch hands on several occasions Cork's hopes of doing the double were dashed as Meath won by 1–11 to 1–8.
In May 2020, the Irish Independent named Tompkins at number eight in its "Top 20 footballers in Ireland over the past 50 years".