While the entire match was nothing to write home about in terms of quality football, Everton's performance dropped significantly in the second half as Liverpool turned up the pressure, which in the end resulted in Mane prodding the ball over the line in the 94th minute to earn all three points for Jurgen Klopp's men.
The first half wasn't outstanding by any means, but Everton were clearly up for the battle and refused to give their opponents space to create, and much of that was lead by Ireland's James McCarthy.
At the center of a row between his club manager Ronald Koeman and international boss Martin O'Neill, McCarthy has endured a very turbulent season so far as he has struggled with fitness, and form as a result of not playing regularly.
However, after his outstanding performance against Arsenal last week, Koeman chose him to start over Gareth Barry in midfield, and he picked up where he left off against the Gunners by organising the Toffees' in midfield and breaking up most of the opposition attacks, until he was withdrawn at half-time due to injury.
On Monday night's delayed edition of 'Match Of The Day 2', Kevin Kilbane made the point that losing McCarthy in midfield was what took the wind out of Everton, and they never recovered from losing his tenacity in midfield.
While it's frustrating to see him once again suffer injury problems, it's promising that when he has been playing lately, he is playing well. That was not something said of his early season performances, but Koeman clearly knows how to get the best out of McCarthy now.
Similarly for Ireland, the best performances McCarthy has put in for the boys in green, such as the 1-0 win over Germany, and the Italy and France games in Euro 2016, have been in the role of midfield destroyer. McCarthy thrives on the fight, the battle in midfield, making things very uncomfortable for those trying to play through or around him.
Everton needed that fight in midfield, and Gareth Barry at 35 was not going to be able to replicate it.
For McCarthy, it will be interesting to see what the future holds. Having been linked with a move to Celtic many times in recent months due to his frosty relationship with Koeman, it looked as though he would be on the way out of Everton, but after his recent performances highlighted his importance, he might well be needed if Everton want to start moving up the table.
