Liverpool's teenage tearaways marked the end of the school holidays with a performance which seemed to take inspiration from a trio of movies perennially broadcast during the festive period.

There's 'It's A Wonderful Life', where an apparently downbeat scenario is completely transformed by one dramatic intervention. 'Oliver Twist', with its bearded mastermind dispatching a gang of well-trained youngsters to wreak havoc. And 'Home Alone', where a precocious kid runs rings round hardened professionals.

At half-time, the Merseyside Derby looked perfect fodder for those who like to utter the phrase 'the magic of the FA Cup' in a bitterly ironic tone. But in the 71st minute came something genuinely magical which completely altered the narrative.

There seemed little danger of a shot - let alone a goal - when Curtis Jones picked the ball up outside the left-hand edge of the Everton box. But then he unleashed a shot of remarkable audacity, a bending, dipping effort which beat Jordan Pickford all ends up before proving that all great goals look even greater if they hit the crossbar on the way in. It was a wonderful strike.

Jones is an 18-year-old local boy and a special talent. A couple of minutes later he was putting Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain through to force a fine save from Pickford. All afternoon he displayed a deftness of touch and a subtle creative intelligence which suggested this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between him and the fans of his home-town club.

But he was only one of the artful dodgers 'Fagin' Klopp used to pick Everton's pockets. Another 18-year-old, right-back Neco Williams, didn't put a foot wrong in a mature performance, while Yasser Larouci, a year older, was an irrepressibly energetic presence down the left after replacing the injured James Milner in the opening minutes.

Sixteen-year-old Harvey Elliott did well in midfield while another teenager, Rhian Brewster, put himself about to good effect when introduced late on.

Everton's defeat was every bit as humiliating as those moments when Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern slip on a load of ball bearings or are propelled down staircases. When Carlo Ancelotti saw Liverpool's team sheet he must have felt that, while an away victory might be decried as a hollow one, it would at least provide a valuable morale boost.

After all, Liverpool's line-up also included a couple of 22-year-olds, Nat Phillips, making his debut, and Pedro Chirivella, who hadn't started a game for the Reds in almost four years.

Everton, on the other hand, fielded a full-strength team and looked the better side in the first half when they should probably have taken the lead.

But in the second half Liverpool grew in confidence to such an extent that after Jones' goal they passed the ball around so comfortably Everton looked like unwilling participants in a training ground keep-ball exercise.

A trouncing by Liverpool's first-choice team would surely have been much less galling than defeat by as weakened a Reds side as their old rivals are ever likely to meet.

The sight of Gylfi Sigurdsson being hauled off in the 63rd minute seemed to sum up the way things have gone south for Everton of late. When they paid £40m for the then-Swansea midfielder in August 2017 it was seen as the biggest of a number of signings illustrating their determination to join the Premier League elite.

Ronald Koeman spent around £180m on players that season, as majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri pumped in the money. Only the two Manchester clubs spent more but, two seasons and three managers later, Everton look like the Premier League's most ludicrous white elephant.

The contrast between Jones - full of ideas, energy and invention - and the entirely anonymous Sigurdsson was extraordinary.

All Everton had to offer in the final 20 minutes were petulant attempts to nail some of Klopp's kids after the ball had gone as Liverpool teased and tormented them like a matador sweeping a cape away from a charging bull. Ancelotti seemed ludicrously out of place on the sideline, a million-dollar manager of a five and ten-cent team.

This will stand as one of Liverpool's sweetest derby victories. Their performance seemed to prove the truth of the old adage that a rising tide lifts all boats. Klopp can do nothing wrong at the moment.

Had his selection been defeated he'd have been accused of showing insufficient respect to the grand old competition. Now few people will cavil if the club's FA Cup campaign becomes a children's crusade.

Encouraged

You'd like to see a lot more of Jones, of Williams, of Larouci and Elliott, who seem to show that there is plenty more where Trent Alexander-Arnold came from. Like the incumbent right-back, they are products of a club culture where young players are encouraged to express themselves and take risks. These kids are not just alright, they're bloody brilliant.

Such promise doesn't inevitably translate into achievement. Remember Federico Macheda, Dani Pacheco, Jack Rodwell, Adnan Januzaj and dozens more?

Yet Liverpool seems a healthy place for a promising young player. As Jones finished celebrating his goal, Klopp called him over to impart some words of advice. A manager so reluctant to get carried away himself won't let his players make that mistake.

There's something about Curtis all the same. By the end of the decade, January 4 2020 may be remembered as the day of his coming out party. Klopp describes Jones as, "an unbelievable player, Scouser, very confident."

Sure what more could you want?

Irish Independent