In a furious contest, the 24-year-old from Barry landed the more eye-catching shots against his Irish rival to claim a split decision win after being given the verdict on two of the three judges' scorecards.

The win sees Selby retain his status as the number one flyweight boxer in the world in the official International Boxing Association (AIBA) world rankings.

He admitted he was delighted to win a second European title following his first gold in Ankara, Turkey, two years ago after he narrowly missed a medal at London 2012.

"Things did not work out for me at the Olympics Games but I have been in great from since then and am just really happy to retain my title and become a two-time European champion," said Selby.

"Conlan is one of the best in the world and always gives me a tough bout so to overcome him in the final makes it special."

Selby's gold capped a fine week for Britain as they secured three medals in total with light-flyweight Jack Bateson of Leeds and super-heavyweight Joe Joyce of London both securing bronze medals in their first appearances at a major international tournament.

GB Boxing performance director Rob McCracken claimed he was delighted with the performance of the team but reserved particular praise for Selby.

"Andrew has been amongst the best boxers in the world – at any weight category – for a couple of years now and this is a great win for him after the disappointment of London where the draw went against him.

"He was one of the stars of the recent World Series of Boxing, has won his last 14 bouts in a row since London and has now made history by becoming a two-time champion of what many people regard as the toughest assignment in the amateur boxing calendar.

"Overall I think the boxers we selected have acquitted themselves very well this last week and to come away with three medals from such a tough competition, at this stage in the Olympic cycle, is a very good achievement.

"We are in a transition phase at the moment but I have seen a lot of good things here this week and, as long as the boxers continue to work hard and apply themselves, then it augurs well for the future."

Conlan's silver medal marked a hugely impressive performance for Ireland that saw them take four medals, two of which were gold.

London 2012 silver medallist John Joe Nevin secured Ireland's first gold medal with a unanimous win over Mykola Butsenko of Ukraine in the bantamweight final before Donegal's Jason Quigley claimed the country's second victory in the middleweight final beating Romanian Bogdan Juratoni on a split decision.

However, there was disappointment for Paddy Barnes in the light-flyweight final as he was forced to pull out of the bout with a fractured nose.

It meant Russian opponent David Aryapetyan received the gold medal on a walkover with Barnes getting silver.

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