The issue is solved and it's been a good learning exercise. The armbian compilation prepare script helped me understand how the driver should be excluded and how the driver is chosen depending on kernel version.
I ended up using the a new driver version v5.13.3-17 vs. v5.7.6.1 included in < 5.15 kernels.
Installing kernel headers:
apt-get install linux-headers-current-sunxi
# if that does not work choose the right version manually. At the time of writing for Armbian 22.02.1
wget https://imola.armbian.com/apt/pool/main/l/linux-5.15.25-sunxi/linux-headers-current-sunxi_22.02.1_armhf.deb
dpkg -i linux-headers-current-sunxi_22.02.1_armhf.deb
Then following the instruction published here to download compile the driver sources:
https://github.com/ivanovborislav/rtl8188eu
I hope this helps others who encounter similar issues with the TP-Link Wifi dongle.
