Born in Cork, County Cork, Ireland started his career in Cobh, playing junior football for Cobh Ramblers, a team his father Michael had previously played for. As a schoolboy, Ireland had trials with a number of British clubs, though several were discouraged by his Osgood-Schlatter disease, which he suffered from in his mid-teens. He eventually chose Manchester City, where he moved in August 2001, as a fifteen-year-old.