Tried making a lot of modifications in the build, still getting the following:
[ 7.514156] kmodloader: 8 modules could not be probed
[ 7.519698] kmodloader: dependency not loaded cfg80211
[ 7.525310] kmodloader: - ath - 1
[ 7.528968] kmodloader: dependency not loaded mac80211
[ 7.534272] kmodloader: dependency not loaded cfg80211
[ 7.539583] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.544688] kmodloader: - ath10k_core - 3
[ 7.548830] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath10k_core
[ 7.554402] kmodloader: - ath10k_pci - 1
[ 7.558591] kmodloader: dependency not loaded mac80211
[ 7.563862] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath9k_hw
[ 7.569151] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath9k_common
[ 7.575089] kmodloader: dependency not loaded cfg80211
[ 7.580436] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.585264] kmodloader: - ath9k - 5
[ 7.588577] kmodloader: dependency not loaded cfg80211
[ 7.594082] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath9k_hw
[ 7.599110] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.604322] kmodloader: - ath9k_common - 3
[ 7.608527] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.613610] kmodloader: - ath9k_hw - 1
[ 7.617480] kmodloader: - cfg80211 - 0
[ 7.621379] kmodloader: dependency not loaded cfg80211
[ 7.626586] kmodloader: - mac80211 - 1
root@OpenWrt:/# opkg list | grep ath10
ath10k-firmware-qca988x - 2019-10-03-d622d160-1
kmod-ath10k - 4.14.195+4.19.137-1-2
root@OpenWrt:/# opkg list | grep 80211
kmod-cfg80211 - 4.14.195+4.19.137-1-2
kmod-lib80211 - 4.14.195+4.19.137-1-2
kmod-mac80211 - 4.14.195+4.19.137-1-2
root@OpenWrt:/# dmesg | grep ath
[ 0.719355] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: pci irq msi oper_irq_mode 2 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
[ 0.965432] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:00:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[ 0.977069] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[ 7.525310] kmodloader: - ath - 1
[ 7.539583] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.544688] kmodloader: - ath10k_core - 3
[ 7.548830] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath10k_core
[ 7.554402] kmodloader: - ath10k_pci - 1
[ 7.563862] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath9k_hw
[ 7.569151] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath9k_common
[ 7.580436] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.585264] kmodloader: - ath9k - 5
[ 7.594082] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath9k_hw
[ 7.599110] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.604322] kmodloader: - ath9k_common - 3
[ 7.608527] kmodloader: dependency not loaded ath
[ 7.613610] kmodloader: - ath9k_hw - 1
[ 64.516263] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:00:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[ 64.527265] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[ 64.549042] firmware ath10k!cal-pci-0000:00:00.0.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[ 64.559725] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-6.bin failed with error -2
[ 64.570594] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[ 64.591700] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!firmware-6.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[ 64.613524] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: qca988x hw2.0 target 0x4100016c chip_id 0x043222ff sub 0000:0000
[ 64.623128] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: kconfig debug 0 debugfs 0 tracing 0 dfs 0 testmode 0
[ 64.637316] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: firmware ver 10.2.4-1.0-00047 api 5 features no-p2p,raw-mode,mfp,allows-mesh-bcast crc32 35bd9258
[ 64.683311] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board-2.bin failed with error -2
[ 64.696933] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[ 64.723371] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!board-2.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[ 64.736950] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: board_file api 1 bmi_id N/A crc32 bebc7c08
[ 65.897397] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: htt-ver 2.1 wmi-op 5 htt-op 2 cal otp max-sta 128 raw 0 hwcrypto 1
[ 66.024504] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[ 66.024513] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[ 66.024516] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[ 66.024523] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[ 66.024527] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[ 66.024529] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a
root@OpenWrt:/# ls /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0
board.bin firmware-5.bin