BODIES HEAVE IN the direction of the turnstiles during the Wednesday evening rush hour at London Bridge Underground.
The 42′s phone rings.
“Where…”
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
The line goes dead.
Another call.
“… are you?”
The voice that is now just about decipherable on the other end of the phone is Aidomo Emakhu. The Republic of Ireland U21 and Millwall striker has arrived into central London from Bromley, 40 minutes south.
His childhood friend, Queens Park Rangers forward and fellow U21 international, with one senior cap for good measure too – Sinclair Armstrong has made his way from further out in Uxbridge, a suburb in the west.
They have found each other, and now it’s just The 42 wandering aimlessly through a tunnel away from the Jubilee and Northern lines in the direction of a slightly less hectic concourse in the main train station that apparently has working WiFi.
“We’ll video call,” Emakhu messages.
A woman gripping a YSL purse throws a sharp dummy and a pitiful look as she burrows past while The 42 is doing that desperate action of extending an arm in the air in the hope of getting a better phone signal.
Two smiling faces flash up on the screen.
“What shop is that behind you?” Emakhu asks.
“It’s The Body Shop,” Armstrong says in a flash.
“Right, right, stay outside the Body Shop. We’re coming to you,” Emakhu says.
The pair approach moments later and any panic on The 42′s part is over.
There is some small talk for the five minutes or so it takes to walk to a quiet restaurant overlooking Tower Bridge.
Emakhu takes a picture for his Snapchat. A Five Guys fast food place is tempting.
“Nah, nah. Not during a training week,” Armstrong says, just a few days before QPR host Millwall at Loftus Road in the Championship.
Emakhu is still recovering from injury after last featuring on New Year’s Day, so while he won’t share a pitch with Armstrong this afternoon they take their seats for a catch up with the Thames river behind them.
The 20-year-olds laugh.
“Our nickname was ‘Jobless’ when we were growing up,” Emakhu says.
As tends to be the case at various points over the course of the conversation Armstrong reacts with a beaming grin and bellowing laugh.
“We had nothing to do. We were kids. Our plans would be to meet at a house, knock in and then stand at the wall,” Emakhu continues.
“We’d talk about life. For six or seven hours. We’d get deep,” Armstrong says, smiling again.
“The free Leap Cards for the buses,” Emakhu interjects.
They both laugh.
“They’d take us anywhere,” Armstrong adds. “We’d just go to Centra, Spar, Daybreak. Get a real chicken fillet roll. There would be spicebags.”
The carnival at Corkagh Park in Clondalkin was, Emakhu says, “like going on holiday.”
They are still the boys from Bawnogue, now leading the attack for Ireland’s U21s as they bid to become the first team at the age group to qualify for the European Championships next year.
Both came to England from Shamrock Rovers. Armstrong made his first-team debut for the Hoops aged 15 and joined QPR in late 2020. Emakhu hung around Tallaght Stadium a bit longer, becoming a part of the first-team squad that won the League of Ireland Premier Division title in 2021 and 2022.
At the end of that latter campaign he signed for Millwall. Twelve months later he agreed a new long-term deal with the Championship club.
Football has formed part of their bond since they were approaching their teens and realised they lived five minutes from each other. And, of course, they were rivals for a time.
“Playing DDSL football,” Emakhu says. “I was at St Francis and Sinclair was Cherry Orchard.”
At Moyle Park College in Clondalkin, Emakhu played Gaelic and Armstrong dallied with basketball. Both played for the football teams. They loved Arsenal and Alexis Sanchez.
Their fathers knew each other too and the dynamic of those relationships with their family was something else they could relate to.
“It was all about togetherness, supporting each other, being there for each other,” Emakhu explains. “Respecting one another and, no matter what, family is always there.”
Armstrong nods his head, smiles and adds: “Just hearing the words ‘I am proud of you’ from my family makes me go even harder. When we both look at the sacrifices our parents made for us growing up, it’s only as you get older you realise how important it was.”
Their mothers were the soft ones, comforting and reassuring at all times. Their fathers took a different approach.
“My dad was tough, honest, it was never from a bad place but that’s how it was,” Emakhu says. “I’d come home from a game we lost 6-0 and my Mam would be like ‘my boy’. My Dad would talk about what was good and bad in the game.”
“We have a group chat with some of the lads and we have talked about what our fathers were like,” Armstrong continues. “My experience was my father was harsh. Like, I would cry, harsh. It was tough back then. My Dad doesn’t sugar coat stuff. He says it as it is. When you are a 12, 13, 14-year-old kid you might be balling crying.
“When I played well he would tell me too, though.”
“What about last week?” Emakhu asks.
Armstrong laughs.
He scored his first goal at Loftus Road for QPR in stunning fashion against Premier League side Bournemouth in the third round of the FA Cup. It was a goal that summed up the best of his attributes – pace, power with a clinical finish after leaving the full back for dust with a blistering run into the box from the left channel.
Or, as Paul Merson gushed on Sky Sports in a clip that would go viral: “He just does an Henry on him.”
“He (Dad) just text me after ‘well done, full stop’. That’s it. Well done. Full stop.”
Now it’s Emakhu’s turn to laugh.
“I sent the link to him then of the clip from Paul Merson,” Armstrong says.
“Love it, love it,” Emakhu replies.
“Aidomo, he just reacted to the link of the clip. It was just like a thumbs up. That’s just the way my Dad is.”
“That’s Dads for you,” Emakhu says. “It really doesn’t come from a bad place. It’s how Dads are.”
Emakhu has three brothers and two sisters while Armstrong has two brothers and one sister. Their families did not go to the same church in Clondalkin but their faith in God has only grown stronger with age, providing an added form of comfort now that both have found churches in London that they can attend.
Neither really wanted to go every Sunday growing up. Emakhu remembers playing matches for Lourdes Celtic and then going straight to Mass in his kit, playing football in the car park or then at home with rolled up socks.
“I went because I was told by my Mam and Dad to go, now I go and it’s my own personal choice,” Emakhu says.
“My faith changed when I moved to London,” Armstrong adds. “I want to go because I am a believer in Jesus. Since I got back into church I feel different. My mindset is different. I feel at ease right now.”
Both were encouraged down a certain path by their parents but chose to persevere into adulthood.
“They can guide you and help you but when you make your way through life and get older it all comes down to yourself,” Emakhu says.
“Faith in God gave me confidence, peace of mind and a sense of relaxation knowing that no matter what happens in life God is always there,” Armstrong adds. “It gives me strength. At times when physically or mentally I was not in a good place talking to God helped.
“Life in general, on and off the pitch, I have seen God work in my life, in my family’s life,” Emakhu says. “Like now when I am injured, before my head would go completely. It would be hard. But with God on my side, he holds the power.”
“There is so much not in your own grasp,” Armstrong says. “I have to understand that the blessings I have are not my own power. It’s all happening from God. He will make a way.”
That was harder to believe when both were teenagers and dealt with setbacks along their journey in the game.
Neither were selected for the DDSL Kennedy Cup squad. The comforting words of coach Garrett Dodrill about not letting it define them have stayed with them.
“It wasn’t like we were out to prove anyone wrong, we just wanted to keep playing football because we loved it,” Emakhu says.
Armstrong describes Cherry Orchard coach Brendan Moore as the most important figure “as he took me when no one wanted me”, praises the influence of Tony Cousins at Rovers with regards trying to better understand the game, and says Damien Duff was the best at Rovers’ Under-15s because “sometimes you need a kick up the backside to get more out of you”.
Emakhu can relate given Duff turned down the chance to bring him into the Rovers’ set up. “I was too small, not physical enough and basically not up to it. It was a defining moment for me with my family because that was the point I said I would do all of the hard work needed to get back.”
Stints at Crumlin United and Shelbourne followed and, with Cousins pushing for it, Emakhu signed for Rovers.
The impact they made is more lasting than what happened on the pitch.
“It’s more important to be a good person than a talented footballer,” Emakhu says. “I was cocky when I was younger, I’ll admit it. But what’s more important? Money and social media or being a decent person who people view as respectful.”
“Exactly,” Armstrong adds. “You treat people with love and respect.”
One of Emakhu’s nephews is now best friends with one of Armstrong’s younger brothers.
Both are emerging in the underage League of Ireland system with Bray Wanderers and Shamrock Rovers.
Their own hectic schedules at club level means they don’t get home as much as they would like but they don’t want their positive influence to wane.
“I say it to them all the time not to get caught up in other stuff, that there are others who will go down a different path.”
The images they saw from Dublin as violence erupted and parts of the city centre were set ablaze during the November riots have been hard to comprehend.
“What went on, it gives the wrong image of what Ireland is as a country,” Emakhu says. “That’s not what Dublin is, what Ireland is. It’s not what we are, there is a togetherness. We are loving. I feel it with the Under-21s. You see the diversity that is there and you can feel the love and excitement for the team.”
Part of the reason for that is the spirit and togetherness of a group of players that are the very best of what a modern Ireland represents.
“I can’t explain this but when Sinclair told us he got called up to the senior squad it felt like we were all going to play with him,” Emakhu says.
“We were all so happy, there was no jealousy or anything like that. To see my friend go to the senior team, we all watched the game [against the Netherlands] and were sitting in the meeting room together in camp [with the 21s]. There was a big cheer when he was brought on, it was a great feeling for us.”
Armstrong returned to the 21s’ set up after that senior bow and will likely continue up top alongside Emakhu in March when they travel to face San Marino. Ireland are second in Group A, one point behind Italy and one ahead of Norway with five qualifiers remaining.
“This spirit all comes down to the manager, Mr Crawford, and his staff,” Armstrong says.
“We have our identity with him. We can improve, of course, but everyone believes that we can beat them all and we want to be successful for Ireland.”
The walk back to the train station is a quick one. A few more photos, some more small talk.
Both have scored three times for the 21s, combining well in the 3-2 defeat to Norway with a goal each, and with five qualifiers remaining and friendlies in June to come the record of seven that is held jointly by Kevin Doyle and Robbie Brady is within sight.
They discuss what it means to play for Ireland, what it could feel like to get to a major tournament and the “ultimate dream” of a World Cup.
The men’s team have never reached one in their lifetime. Emakhu recalls Euro 2012 and how his TV at home broke in the seconds before Sean St Ledger equalised against Croatia and he had to run across the road to watch in a neighbour’s house.
“All the flags were everywhere, the estates painted. It was brilliant. And for us with the 21s we feel like the nation is backing us,” he says, crossing the road back towards London Bridge Station.
“Playing for Ireland is living the dream.”
