A miserable end to a turbulent year for Dungannon Swifts, but Cliftonville supporters are now surely looking forward to a very happy 2013.
There was no upset at Solitude as goals from Liam Boyce and George McMullan saw the league leaders consolidate their stranglehold at the top of the table.
It keeps the Reds’ nine-point lead intact at the turn of the year, and they are now clear favourites to bring the Gibson Cup back to North Belfast for the first time in 15 years.
For Dungannon, however, the coming months hold more uncertainty and tension.
A third successive defeat for the Tyrone side leaves them still perilously placed in the table – a mere six points ahead of the relegation places.
This week’s home games against two struggling sides, Ballymena United and Lisburn Distillery, offer Swifts a chance to improve their points tally.
There are aspects of this performance which Darren Murphy can take positives from.
His side were always going to struggle against a Cliftonville team seemingly charging towards the title after nine wins from their previous 11 games.
Dungannon showed plenty of effort and commitment but, in a telling statistic, failed to land a single shot of note on target all afternoon.
An early example came via Chris Lavery. The midfielder darted down the left flank, beating McMullan a little too easily, before sending a low effort just wide.
It came minutes after Cliftonville almost broke the deadlock.
Boyce showed good strength to hold off Emmet Friars before threading the ball through to Joe Gormley, but his finish was narrowly off target.
Dungannon threatened again via a cross from Lavery, however, there was no-one on hand to convert.
Otherwise Niall Morgan was by far the busier ‘keeper in the first half, and he reacted well to get a touch to Jody Lynch’s deflected strike.
But there was nothing he could do when, from the resulting corner, Lynch picked out Boyce and the young striker was free to head home his 20th goal of the season.
Dungannon responded in positive fashion, albeit without testing the ‘keeper.
Friars headed just wide from a Ryan O’Neill corner while a Michael McKerr cross caused panic in the Reds’ defence – but again Dungannon had no-one free to take advantage.
Morgan also made an important block with his feet to keep out Stephen Garrett’s strike.
Any hopes Swifts had of a second-half comeback were dealt a heavy blow when they conceded again seven minutes after the restart.
Fra Brennan was penalised for a foul on Garrett and, although some Swifts’ fans felt it was outside the box, the penalty was awarded and converted by McMullan.
Cliftonville had chances to stretch their lead, with Morgan making several other good saves, but the two goals proved more than enough.
CLIFTONVILLE: Devlin, McGovern, Johnston, McMullan, Garrett, Seydak, Smyth, Catney (Donnelly, 71), Gormley (O’Carroll, 69), Lynch, Boyce (Cosgrove, 81)
Subs not used: R Scannell, O’Kane
DGN SWIFTS: Morgan, R O’Neill, Grieve, Montgomery, Friars, Brennan, Topley, Hutchinson (Harpur, 69), S Lavery (S O’Neill, 86), C Lavery, McKerr (PJ Lavery, 46)
Subs not used: Hazley, Fitzpatrick
Referee: Ross Dunlop (Carrickfergus)