“A DREAM come true” was how Newport boxer Sean McGoldrick described being awarded a Commonwealth gold medal last night.

It’s been a long time coming, but yesterday McGoldrick got the medal he richly deserved.

He returned from the 2010 Commonwealth Games a silver medallist, but his final opponent, Manju Wanniarachchi, lost his gold after he failed a drugs test.

Following his opponent’s decision to not appeal, McGoldrick was last night given his gold medal at Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff.

The 19-year-old told the Argus: “It’s a dream come true. I was almost waiting for it, I had a lot of trust that the right thing would happen.”

The teenager found out he would be getting the gold while training in Sheffield last week, and his dad, Liam, was the first person he called: “He said ‘well done and focus on your training.’”

McGoldrick led for much of the 56kg bantamweight division final against the Sri Lankan boxer, but the fight ended 7-7 with Wanniarachchi winning on countback.

The decision was controversial and there were claims that some shots by McGoldrick, who was a Duffryn High School pupil at the time, went unrewarded.

It quickly emerged Wanniarachchi had failed an anti-doping test.

He protested his innocence but in May a hearing of the Commonwealth Games Federation court in Malaysia disqualified him, ruling his gold medal be forfeited.

Although Wanniarachchi had the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, he decided against it and has retired.

McGoldrick, who received his medal in the boxing ring, said he now hopes to repeat his gold medal success at the London 2012 Olympics.