Earl was knocked down once more by a right cross early in the second and the towel was thrown in by his corner, only for referee Micky Vann to throw it back out of the ring and continue the fight.
St Mirren were reduced to 10 men after 70 minutes when Franco Miranda received a straight red card after the assistant referee signalled he had used an elbow jostling with Sutton at a throw-in.
Cudmore had appeared to throw the two initial punches and he was handed a red card by referee Chris White with O'Connell ordered to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.