IF you offered the Cliftonville players one wish each, they would all probably like to rewind the clock and play their Irish Cup quarter-final with Dungannon Swifts again.
If that wish could be granted, Cliftonville would be in the Irish Cup semi-finals and not the Swifts.
Complacency is the ubiquitous enemy of every professional.
Let’s be honest, when the draw was made, the Reds were already peering beyond Dungannon and eyeing a last four berth.
Better teams than Cliftonville have been caught by complacency. Once it enters a player or a team’s psyche, it stays there and spreads.
Last Saturday, Cliftonville kissed goodbye to their Irish Cup dream – and the spirit of ’79 continues to hang over Solitude for at least another season.
The Reds played with no tempo, no purpose and when you start in that vein, it’s desperately difficult to change gears during a game.
It was one of the worst performances from a Cliftonville side for over a decade.
There were a couple of takeaways from a bleak afternoon at Solitude – and one of the brightest from a Dungannon Swifts perspective.
Firstly, referee Jamie Robinson allowed Dungannon to game-manage the second half in the crudest of fashions.
Visiting 'keeper Declan Dunne, formerly of Cliftonville, took an eternity with every goal kick and nearby free-kick.
Dunne must have frittered away three or four minutes off the clock all by himself.
The Reds fans were enraged. The big Lamh Dhearg clubman must've felt like a panto villain for the day.
Also noticeable was how Dunne had no interest in keeping the ball in play. He thumped the vast majority of his placed balls as far away from his own goal as possible and into touch.
All over the pitch Dungannon players were dropping like flies. Another 30 seconds shaved off.
Everybody knew the referee was being played. And he allowed it to happen. One of the forgotten rules of the game is the goalkeeper having to release the ball from his possession within six seconds of receiving it.
No-one, however, should begrudge Dungannon the win and securing their place in the Irish Cup semi-finals.
After all, the Swifts are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table. If it means thieving time in a game against a superior opponent, so be it.
We can moralise and throw our hands in the air at this kind of regrettable time-wasting and wilfully kicking the ball out of play so Dungannon could reset their two defensive banks, but this is the Realpolitik of football.
Moreover, Dungannon were the better team and Dean Shiels got his team over the line against staggering odds.
Every team is guilty of running down the clock to protect a lead or a draw. Nevertheless, time-wasting is a scourge on the game and badly needs addressed.
The other takeaway from Solitude last weekend is that the weight of expectation on the young shoulders of Sean Moore is far too great.
This is in no way to take away from the gorgeous talent that Moore possesses, but the hype surrounding him is unhealthy.
Cliftonville themselves have beaten the drum about just how special the kid is, but all it serves to do is pile more pressure on the youngster.
And with that unnecessary hyperbole that follows him around with each passing first team appearance, social media gets hold of these lofty appraisals and everyone gleefully loses perspective.
He is not the next George Best or Damien Duff. He is a rookie winger cutting his teeth in senior football and has weighed in with a handful of lovely individual goals.
Either side and in between those sumptuous moments, however, have been many erratic moments and below-par displays.
But that's what you get from a 17-year-old kid finding his way. It's hard to be consistent when you're playing in the final third of the pitch encountering seasoned defenders almost on a weekly basis - while the excited headlines guarantee you get 10 or 15 per cent more attention from the opposition.
But his highlights reel has seductive powers, attracting several cross-channel clubs, many of whom have come to Solitude to see for themselves what all the fuss is about, while there's already a tug of war developing between the FAI and IFA.
For the record, I think Sean Moore is an excellent prospect. He may go on to play in England or Scotland at elite level and represent either Northern Ireland or Republic of Ireland. And he may not.
What's true is that there is a long, treacherous road ahead of him. The nagging issue is, his raw talent can't possibly match the giddy hype.
Maybe in this over-coached era when we discover and laud a player with a bit of maverick in them - just like Moore - we tend to big them up too readily. Because he's different.
He's also a fresh, new narrative for the media to discuss and write about. We all love a bit of hyperbole.
But it was still surprising for Moore's name to be referenced in Michael O'Neill's press conference earlier this week.
The line of enquiry seemed to be: Is the young Cliftonville winger worth calling up?
Like, a senior call-up? Really?
Moore is no-where near that level. Not yet anyway.
Such a call-up would be sheer expediency to discourage the player declaring for the south following his recent U19 call-up to a Republic of Ireland training camp for locally based players, when he's patently not ready for the senior international scene.
O'Neill, in fairness, handled the question well, batting it into touch and explaining - as if he had to - that the teenager was still trying to prove himself at Irish Premiership level and that an international call-up to the north's senior team was maybe a bit of a stretch.
But this is the over-excited, social media era we live in, where we casually inhabit the extremes of debate rather than the balanced, more considered middle ground.
Sean Moore can't pull a rabbit out of a hat every time he plays a game of football for Cliftonville.
He will have good days and bad. And everyone should give him the space to experience both while he learns his trade in the hope that he fulfils whatever potential he has in that young footballing soul of his.
