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With Ireland versus Croatia taking place late on Sunday evening, there may be a few heavy heads on Monday morning. Here is JOE’s survival guide for the morning after…

It’s probably important to recognise that the body gets rid of one standard drink an hour so no amount of shovelling greasy food, showering or caffeine is going to help if you have a good few pints.

It might make you feel better but your body will still process alcohol at the same speed.

Depending on how Trap’s men do, there may be a few lads drinking to celebrate or drinking to forget, but there are things you can do to lessen the effect and make you fit and ready to face the Monday morning.

Avoid rounds.  Let’s face it, someone always gets stung here! Leave out the round and drink at your own pace. This way you won’t end up forking out the cash on a stingey mate!

Eating before you drink:  Food slows down the rate of absorption - that's why alcohol affects you more quickly on an empty stomach.  Eating is not cheating.  Mix it up - drink water or a soft drink instead of a pint now and then.  You’ll feel better and be able to appreciate Ireland’s prolific attackers even more!

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail! Get as much water in before the game as possible.  You can be sure the boys in green are doing the same, albeit for a different reason!

Lads, the message is simple, never ever drink and drive.  And the same applies the morning after. The legal blood alcohol limit is 50mg per 100ml of blood while professional drivers and learner drivers are allowed a 'virtually zero' rate of 20mg per 100ml of blood.

Keep in mind the rule of thumb that the body gets rid of a standard drink per hour - that's two hours required for every pint, so even if you think you feel fine you may be over the limit. Play it safe and find another method of getting where you need to go the next morning.

You can check out drinkware.ie who have a great Drink Calculator that will give you more information on what your levels are.

Now there’s a fair chance some of you may overdo it so here are a few tips to help in the event of that happening!

Drink as much water as you can before going to sleep, and put some beside the bed too and take an antacid to settle your stomach before hitting the hay and dreaming of Ireland’s 5-0 win in the next match against Spain. (If you’ve been drinking you may indulge in stupid dream fantasies like that.)

As always a good breakfast is a life-saver; drinking lowers your blood sugar level - bananas, cereal, or egg on toast are all good morning-after snacks. Fruit smoothies can also help replace lost vitamins too.

So if you're going to enjoy what should hopefully be a great match and have a few drinks, enjoy them, be sensible, drink a lot of water and don’t ever get behind the wheel with any drinks on board.

And if Sunday night does turn into a late one, make sure to take extra care on Monday morning - if at all possible, give public transport a whirl.

Enjoy the game!