Champions League: Cork City's delight at having advanced to the next round of the Champions League has quickly been tempered by the news that Danny Murphy and Joe Gamble received red cards following their two-leg victory over Apollon Limassol and are likely to miss the tie with Red Star Belgrade next Wednesday.

The cards were issued in the aftermath of a fracas that began after the final whistle in Nicosia on Wednesday, where a 1-1 draw gave Cork a 2-1 aggregate win. The club and players only learned their fate yesterday, as Swedish referee Stefan Johannesson failed to inform anyone of his decision on the night.

From a distance the incident looked to be instigated by the hosts, for whom two players and one official have also been reported. In the run-up, countless missiles were thrown on to the pitch by Apollon fans after Dan Murray's 76th-minute goal.

"There were strange things going on," said manager Damien Richardson. "The diving was completely ridiculous, but the referee wouldn't act on it, and then the subs running on to the pitch at the final whistle was totally unacceptable.

"The stuff that was thrown at us was totally unacceptable, so if they are going to give two red cards to my players then we will see what they do to the home club and their players."

Murphy gave his version of events in Larnaca airport before he even knew he had been given a red card.

"One of their players kicked the ball at me at the end and I started laughing," he said, "and before that all their fans had started throwing things on the pitch when we scored. I just laughed at it and threw the stuff back off the pitch.

"The next thing I knew the whole bench ran at me after the game. It was difficult and I was lucky that all the lads jumped in because I was struggling."

Richardson, who is looking at a selection nightmare for the first leg with Red Star, said: "We will certainly appeal . . . Players have to be afforded protection. If a player is attacked by four or five individuals, what does he do?"