[CentOS] ifcfg-link?

This is happening with the Centos7-armv7 image 1804, but I was wondering 
if it is a broader C7 issue.

My image has only 2 ifcfg files:  ifcfg-l0 and -link.  'ip a' is listing 
the ethernet as eth0.  ifcfg-link has contains:

DEVICE=link
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=on

I then used nmcli to create my ifcfg-eth0

nmcli con delete eth0
nmcli con add type ethernet con-name eth0 ifname eth0 ip4 
192.168.129.11/25 gw4 192.168.129.1
nmcli con mod eth0 ipv4.dns "50.253.254.2 192.168.129.1"
nmcli con mod eth0 mac "02:67:15:00:81:0B"

I moved the cable to the 192.168.129.1 vlan (which does not have a dhcp 
server), and

nmcli con up eth0
Error: Connection activation failed: No suitable device found for this 
connection.

Oops. ?

rebooting did not help.  Came up with no address for interface eth0, yet 
no suitable device.

Where would I look to find what may be happening here?

I appreciate that this may be specific to armv7 and my Cubieboard2, but 
then again, it may be something known by other Centos people.

Thanks for any help!