Padraig Amond has revealed the one thing that scares him as he plans to continue playing beyond his 40th birthday. The Waterford striker turned 37 in April - but he remains as prolific as ever. Amond is on top of the Premier Division goalscoring charts with 12 so far, and he has also netted one in the FAI Cup. He recently told his teammates that he plans to celebrate every goal like it’s his last, despite his plan to play on for several more years. “I can genuinely tell you I've never thought about it once in terms of, am I going to be retiring soon or anything like that,” said Amond, the SSE Airtricity/SWI Player of the Month for July. “I went back to college three years ago and finished a degree recently, so I'm set up for life after football now, whereas a few years ago I wasn't. “So maybe that's another reason why (retirement) doesn't scare me. “Probably the only thing that scares me is at some stage in my career I'm going to score a goal and it'll be the last goal I ever score, and I don't know when that's ever going to be. “So I've said to the lads recently, I'm going to celebrate every goal like it's the last goal I ever score because someday it is going to be the last goal I score and I won't know anything about it. “So it doesn't scare me, I’m excited by what's going to happen in the next few years, regardless on or off the pitch. “I still think there's plenty of years left as well, and hopefully there is.” Asked if the idea of playing on at the age of 40 was realistic, he replied: “I don't see why not, yeah. “Look, I'm playing every minute of every game now. I don't feel sore after games. Ten years ago I did, which is funny. “I don't know whether it's the fact that I'm doing all the stuff with the kids now and I'm more active around the place, probably not sitting around watching as much television or anything like that, just running around with the kids. “My little boy has turned five this week and my little girl has just turned two. He's starting to play hurling and football and he's going to be starting soccer soon. “I'm helping out with the teams that he's involved in. Things like keep you active all the time and it's probably keeping the legs moving. “I think we'll take it year by year, but at the minute it's going very well, so it'd be silly for me to even think about it at the moment.” Amond, who recently played his 800th professional game, plans to keep playing until he feels he is no longer contributing to his team. But given his goalscoring feats so far this season, there can be no doubting his value to John Coleman’s side, as they prepare for an FAI Cup trip to Cork City. “It might sound silly, but I'm improving in certain areas, probably more and more as the years go on,” he said. “It's making everything even more enjoyable for me. I actually think I'm enjoying football more than I've ever had in my life.” Famed for his exploits in the FA Cup in England with Newport, where he found the net against Tottenham, Leicester, Middlesbrough and Manchester City, Amond has big ambitions in the Cup on this side of the Irish Sea. “Every team in the Premier Division is probably looking at this year, especially with what's on offer with European football and how you can go straight to the Europa League if you win the Cup,” he said. “There's four Premier Division Cup ties this weekend. So there's four very good teams going to end up out of the competition. “And if you're at the last-eight stage you never know, you're two games away from the Aviva and anything can happen. “So it's something that we are looking at. You can play 36 league games in the year and work as hard as you can in all of them to try and get into Europe and get in that way. “Or you can go through the Cup and win six games or win five games, whatever it is, and still have the exact same riches at the end of it. “So it's something that we are looking at and we're not taking Cork lightly for one moment, especially after having an upturn in form the last couple of weeks, two clean sheets in a row. “You can see the fitness levels of the lads who signed from England, the match fitness levels are getting better and better.” Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.