Three times a week a 12 year old James Abankwah would make a 200 kilometre round trip by bus from his home in Longford to Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

He’d hop off the bus, cross the fly-over and get a lift from his coaches to his schoolboy club Cherry Orchard, all to test himself against the best players in Dublin.

While offers to join clubs closer to his home in the Midlands were plentiful, a young James backed himself to make it in Dublin. He knew if he could thrive at The Orchard their links to St. Patrick’s Athletic could see him break into the League of Ireland.

“It was for more than a year I making the commute from Longford to Cherry Orchard,” said James. “For the first year it was my mum taking me and my brother then after that I’d get the bus and meet my coaches at the other end for a lift. Another lad from Longford signed for Cherry Orchard, Gerard Kilane, his dad then started giving us both lifts and honestly I owe him everything for doing that for me. It wasn’t easy going from Longford to Dublin that many times a week but I knew the club had that relationship with St. Pat’s. 

“When you’re coming through at schoolboy level the aim is to get to the League of Ireland. I knew what I wanted to do and even though my mum might get questioned why she was sending her son to Dublin the fact was it was a level higher in Dublin and I wanted to play with the best.”

James was no stranger to proving himself in a new town. Born in Waterford, his father Isaac, a reverend minister, would be required in different towns around Ireland and his family would join him.

From Waterford the family would move to Ireland’s north west and it was in Letterkenny where a five-year old James first began playing football with Letterkenny Rovers. When the family moved to Longford he would continue his development with Melview FC before he took the decision to make those arduous trips to the capital to test himself.

At Cherry Orchard it didn’t take long for James to impress and after almost three years with the Dublin side he joined Pat’s in 2019. He went on to win League of Ireland youth titles before making his senior debut against Derry City in 2021, aged just 17. 

Four months later and just five years after the James was traveling three hours just to play football, he became the then youngest player to play in an FAI Cup Final when he came on in the 80^th minute in front of 37,000 fans at the Aviva Stadium in November 2021. His side would go on to win the trophy after beating Bohemians 4-3 on penalties. James had arrived.

“To introduce myself to fans in Ireland that way was just great. Playing in front of that many fans too was just amazing. The fact we won the game, won the cup. It was just brilliant to enjoy it with everyone at St. Pat’s.”

Little did James know his introduction to the Aviva crowd would grab the attention of Serie A side Udinese. It wasn’t long after that cup final appearance that the Italians reached out to the Dublin 8 outfit to enquire about their teen centre back.

He describes how his move from Inchicore to Udine transpired, he said: “Some scout must have been watching the game because after the final there was some interest. When I heard Udinese wanted me, I was filled with joy, I couldn’t believe it because there wasn’t many people who had gone from Ireland to Italy. But I wanted to test myself, I wanted to do something different.

“Going to Italy has helped me mature, a lot. The culture is different, the way they play is a lot different to Ireland and England, it’s very technical and tactical.

“I’ve learned so much about the art of defending out there. Three out of four of my coaches were defenders. I had Fabio Cannavaro for a while and just even learning from him was huge, him just giving small bits of advice for my game. It was invaluable.”

James’ football journey from the banks of Letterkenny’s River Swilly to the top tier of Italian football would come to fruition in April 2023. Still a teenager, James recalls the moment he made his debut coming on as a substitute against Bologna: “It was a bit of a mad one to honest. I didn’t think I was coming on but the gaffer told me to get warmed-up. All of a sudden, I’m hearing my name and I’m like ‘what? Are they calling me?’ I sprinted down that line and made sure I was ready. 

“I just remember the game was a different tempo. It was my first time playing in Serie A, I didn’t know what to expect and it kind of hit me that I had a lot to learn to reach that level. If you want to play at the highest levels you have to be one of the best, train the best and if you do make mistakes trust yourself that you’ll come back from it.”

James’ first start for Udinese would come two months after his experience in Bologna this time at the home of 36-time Italian champions Juventus. An incredible experience for the Irishman, but he shakes in head in disbelief at the ability of opposition he had to face.

“In terms of the quality strikers I’ve faced it’s tough to say just one, but I will mention Federico Chiesa - he was just different. I just remember his first touch, he’d spin it around the corner. I’d try and get tight to him and he’d spin me as well, he was a nightmare to defend. Saying that, I thought I did quite well for only my second game.

“But even this season there have been those ‘wow’ moments. You don’t allow yourself to get taken in by the occasion but when I played against Atalanta I was up against Ademola Lookman, he’s rapid, his feet are unbelievable and I was like ‘I used to watch you, I remember games when you’ve played’ then you have to snap out of it and just focus on the game.”

Involved in the first team more this season James penned a long-term deal with Udinese this month before a loan move to their partner club Watford.

In Hertfordshire, just north of London, he joined fellow Irishmen Festy Ebosele (who has since left), Rocco Vata and former Bohemians striker Nickson Okosun.

Having previously being loaned to England at Charlton Athletic, James admits the loan didn’t go his way so when the opportunity came to impress on his Championship debut he didn’t hold back. In fact, less than 30 seconds into his Watford debut against Derby County, James made his mark with a strong tackle that would go viral.

Reflecting on his challenge, he laughs about it: “I just wanted to show people that I could play in England. I remember one of the boys from Udinese said ‘when you start a game, make sure they know you’re there’. I probably went in a bit too hard, but I was loving all the comments about the tackle after it. I thought I won the ball, but I ended up getting a booking for it.”

It instantly made James a fan favourite with the Watford fans and already he has been a regular starter for The Championship side. His club and Under-21s teammate Rocco Vata has himself impressed for The Hornets something James says is no surprise ‘Rocco is Rocco, it’s what he does’.

Ireland will be looking to benefit from this form and James who only turned 21 earlier this month is eligible for another Under-21s campaign.

His performance in the 1-1 draw against Italy in Trieste last October  - which ultimately saw Ireland miss out on qualifying for the 2025 Under-21 EURO -  impressed his Udinese manager Kosta Runjaić who saw James shackle a talented Italian forward line and led to an upsurge in appearances in Serie A.

But for James it’s progress not plaudits that are his motivating factor, reflecting on the last Under-21s campaign he says:

“We deserve to play at the EUROs with the Under-21s, the last campaign is difficult to sum up as we had done so well, we only lost one game. We were so close but the hope is that in this campaign the experience gained from the boys from last year and playing for their clubs this season is what will get us there and where we belong.”

As someone not afraid of a journeys James has a few more stops on the way to his destination.