A native of Waterbury, Connecticut, Ireland notably played collegiate basketball at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA from 2010 to 2014 before embarking a professional career spanning across Europe.
Ireland was a four-year standout for the Loyola Marymount Lions Men's Basketball program from 2010 to 2014 under the tutelage of Head Coach Max Good.
[3] Ireland's senior season saw him dive further into the LMU record books, eclipsing the 2,000 career points mark and being named First Team All-WCC for a third time.
At the time of his induction, Ireland held the record for most games played in school history, ranked second all-time in assists and steals, third in total scoring, and fifth in 3-pointers made.
[4] After completing his collegiate career, Ireland opted to pursue professional options in Europe over playing in the NBA D-League due to financial reasons.
[6] Ireland spent his first professional season in France in 2014–15, playing for Elan Chalon of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), averaging 9.3 points and 3.4 assists per contest in 30 games.
[17] In 2015, Ireland cofounded a foundation, AI3 Leadership Academy, in Waterbury, Connecticut that works to nurture young minds to be the best that they can be as leaders, on and off the basketball court.
[citation needed] The AI3 Leadership Academy was created by Ireland and childhood friend, Joe Summa, with the intention of bridging people of all backgrounds within the Waterbury community through basketball.
This foundation was a response to the deteriorating of outdoor courts in the Waterbury area, and to give the youth a physical place to play basketball.