The 2003 Allianz Leagues produced exciting fare, but ultimately it was Tyrone and Kilkenny who held onto their titles. Not so long ago, the Allianz Leagues faced an uncertain future. The popular perception was that if a team took the competition seriously, it would almost certainly lead to failure in the championship. But how times have changed! Two years ago, a close season for inter-county teams was introduced which meant that the starting time for the leagues was put back to February. With the championship only three months away, the leagues suddenly became competitive again. If a player wasn't firing on all cylinders in the league, the chances were that he wouldn't feature on the championship team. There is little doubt that the new spring starting time has provided the leagues with a major shot in the arm. Players are fresher, match attendances are bigger and invariably the best teams are slugging it out at the business-end of the competition. It was no coincidence that this year's Allianz Football and Hurling League champions, Tyrone and Kilkenny, went on to secure All-Ireland glory in September. The fact that Tyrone and Kilkenny both retained their league titles highlights just how seriously they take the competition. And it also dispels the myth that it is near impossible for teams to achieve league and championship honours in the same season. The 2003 Allianz football league was ultra-competitive with Tyrone emerging as the top team in Division 1A and Mick O'Dwyer's rejuvenated Laois achieving a similar feat in Division 1B. Fittingly, both teams qualified for the final by virtue of semi-final wins over Fermanagh and Armagh respectively. From a neutral perspective, the final at Croke Park was a disappointing spectacle with Tyrone producing an almost exact replica of their 2002 league final destruction of Cavan. It took Cavan 20 minutes to score against the Red Hands last year and, by an amazing coincidence, proceedings had reached exactly the same stage when Laois finally opened their scoring account. Mickey Harte's charges were six points clear at that stage, but when Ian Fitzgerald rose highest under a Damien Delaney free to flick the ball to the net, it gave Laois supporters in the 30,293 crowd - the largest at a football league final since 1994 - some hope that their day might still have a happy ending. The O'Moore County reduced the deficit to two points before Peter Canavan fired over a point to give Tyrone an interval lead of 0-10 to 1-4. Mick O'Dwyer performed extensive surgery to his team at the interval, but it failed to have the desired effect as Tyrone put further daylight between the sides in the second half. With Canavan and his former pupil Eoin Mulligan leading the Laois defence a merry dance, Tyrone powered to a 0-21 to 1-8 victory, leaving no one in any doubt about their intentions for the season. The curtain-raiser between Westmeath and Limerick provided a much more exciting contest. The sides had shared top spot in Division 2A and had accounted for Longford and Wexford in their respective semi-finals. Similar to Wexford, Limerick had gained promotion to Division 1 for the first time, but they desperately wanted to go up as champions. However, a late Martin Flanagan goal denied them of that privilege, with Westmeath taking their second Division 2 title in three years on a 2-12 to 1-14 scoreline. With four minutes of normal time remaining, Limerick looked to be in the driving seat, having battled back from a 1-9 to 1-11 deficit after 49 minutes to lead 1-14 to 1-12. But what appeared to be imminent glory turned to absolute disaster when following a long range speculative punt by JP Casey, Flanagan rose highest in the goalmouth to punch the ball to a net left unguarded by goalkeeper Seamus O'Donnell who had moved off his line. The Shannonsiders should have salvaged something from the game in the time remaining, but their lack of big-match experience told as they seemed hellbent on scoring a goal when a point would have sufficed. Unusually, the attendance for the final wasn't the biggest gate of the competition. In the opening round, a whopping 54,000 spectators flocked to Croke Park for the glamour meeting of Armagh and Dublin. And just as they had done in last year's All-Ireland semi-final and would do again in this year's All-Ireland qualifiers, the Orchard County ensured that it was an occasion to forget for the Dubs. A new phase two, which saw teams in Division 1 and 2 broken up into stronger and weaker sections after the first phase of games, was introduced in the Allianz hurling league. As the top two teams in Division 1 (Group 1), old rivals Tipperary and Kilkenny qualified for the final. Kerry and Antrim qualified for the Division 2 final after topping their section. The finals only attracted 17,000 spectators to Croke Park (the decision to play them on a Bank Holiday Monday was baffling to say the least) which was a great pity because they proved to be wonderful spectacles. The signs looked ominous for Division 1 holders Kilkenny when they trailed Tipperary by eight points early in the second half. But in what will be remembered as one of the most exciting games of hurling ever played, they staged a tremendous recovery which culminated in Henry Shefflin's winning point. The score at the end of an amazing contest was Kilkenny 5-14 to 5-13. It was the Cats' 11th title success in all. In the Division 2 decider, Kerry were outclassed by Antrim for long spells in the first half and they went into the half-time break trailing by 1-4 to 2-11. But their fierce tenacity saw them fight back on the resumption and when the outstanding Shane Brick blasted their third goal in the 69th minute, Antrim's lead was reduced to just three points. However, the Ulster side had the final say when Paddy Richmond scored an injury-time goal to give them a 3-18 to 3-12 victory, as well as promotion to the top flight. Next year, Tyrone and Kilkenny will attempt to make it a hat-trick of Allianz League football and hurling titles each. One thing is for certain - the respective league winners will have a major say in where the Sam Maguire and Liam McCarthy Cups end up next September. Tweet

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