Galway United are delighted to announce the signing of forward Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe.
The 30-year-old striker joins United after an impressive career with stints in both England and Ireland, showcasing his skills and goal-scoring prowess at clubs such as Derry City where he won the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division Boot in 2019 and most recently Glentoran with an average of a goal contribution every second game in the league in 2023/24.
Junior has made a name for himself as a versatile and reliable forward, capable of leading the line and delivering some crucial goals.
Junior’s Excitement
“I’m very happy. It’s been a long time coming to be fair. I’ve been speaking to John for, I don’t know, past maybe year or so, where he wanted me to come to Galway and I don’t know, maybe at the time it wasn’t really the right time. But obviously now it’s just felt like the perfect time to be here. So yeah, I’m happy and hopefully I can just crack on and score some goals,” said Junior about his move to Galway United.
Career Journey
Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe started his youth career with Leyton Orient, Ilford, and Millwall before making the leap to men’s football. He has had a varied career, playing for numerous clubs in the UK and abroad. His journey took him from the English non-league system to the Cypriot league, where he won the Cypriot Cup with Türk Ocağı Limasol. He then came back to England after the successful spell in Mediterranean Europe and joined the non league again. He had then had some prolific form at Maldon & Tiptree, where he scored 34 goals in 34 games, earned him a move to Colchester United and subsequently led to several successful spells in the League of Ireland.
Reflecting on his career, Junior said, “Obviously when I was young, I’m talking 12/13 I was at Millwall and left because I moved houses. So then I kind of didn’t really play football as much. So I went into non-league at about 17 or 18 and played men’s football from 18 non-league and from there I just obviously kept plugging away. Ended up going to Cyprus from Cyprus, came back, went to Maldon, done well there, scored goals and then went to Colchester and then. Yeah from there I’ve just been like in Ireland for Derry, Dundalk, Bohemians. So yeah literally that’s been it.”
Achievements
Junior’s most notable achievement came in 2019 when he was the League of Ireland Premier Division top scorer while playing for Derry City, a season in which he helped his team secure a spot in the UEFA Europa League. “My season at Derry was a good one. I was playing mostly on the left or right wing there, but yeah, I had a great season and that we as a team done well obviously got into Europe and was a good season. Obviously winning Golden Boot just topped it all off. So yeah, it was very nice.”
Message to the Fans
Junior is eager to get started with Galway United and looks forward to meeting the fans. “Yeah I can’t wait to meet the fans. Obviously I’ve seen a lot of good things and heard a lot of good things about Galway and the Galway people as well. So yeah, I can’t wait and hopefully get to see them 4th of July and yeah, hopefully they get behind the boys.”
Galway United's next game is on Thursday night against Bohemians, you can get tickets HERE.
