 He went straight into the team and won his first cap on 3 April 1963 in the 1–4 loss to Wales in the British Home Championship.He received his next cap the following month and scored his first international goal on 30 May 1963 in the 1–1 draw with Spain in the first round of the 1964 European Nations Cup.It was over a year before Irvine was selected to represent his country again, when he was included in the squad for the 1–2 defeat to Switzerland in a qualification match for the 1966 FIFA World Cup.