Referee Raymond Crangle will this morning deliver a damning report into the ugly scenes that marred Saturday’s Irish Cup fifth round.

And with Irish FA officials primed to take tough action, a large number of players from Newry City and Larne could be facing heavy punishments and lengthy bans.

Crangle was forced to abandon the Newry City v Larne tie eight minutes from time as a series of mini-brawls broke out on the pitch after he sent off a second Larne player in the space of a couple of minutes.

Despite the fact that he’d dismissed Liam Hogan shortly before Alan Reid was also red-carded, Crangle — who was promoted to the FIFA list of referees at the turn of the year — was left stunned by the violent events.

“My report is ready to go to the IFA,” said Crangle.

“Myself and my two assistants have tried to pick out the instigators, but it was difficult for three people to see everything.

“There were no problems in the game, even when the first sending-off happened there was no indication of what was to follow.

“It’s the worst thing that I have ever seen on a football pitch and anarchy wouldn’t describe it.”

Newry’s Cullen Feeney — who pictures show was kicked in the head by two Larne players as he lay on the ground — admitted last night that he was fortunate to escape relatively unscathed.

“It all happened so quickly. It’s a bit of a blur now. It wasn’t until I saw pictures in the papers that I saw how serious it was,” said Feeney.

“It’s the worst thing that I have ever been involved in during my football career and I’m lucky, I suppose, that I wasn’t seriously hurt.”