Best chief executive, 1. Aidan Heavey (Tullow), 2. Patrick Kennedy (Paddy Power), 3. Eddie O'Connor (Airtricity)

Ireland's oil baron Aidan Heavey snapped up most of this year's analyst votes for top chief executive.

The 54-year-old Lambourghini-driving Heavey founded Tullow Oil in 1985, reportedly after a tip from a banker prompted him to acquire a licence to develop gas fields in Senegal. Before that, Heavey worked as financial controller with Aer Lingus and Tullow Engineering.

Heavey is also a director of the Irish charity, Traidlinks, which aims to promote enterprise in developing countries. The Foxrock man oversaw the acquisition of the Australian oil and gas explorer, Hardman Resources, earlier this year.

Tullow also struck lucky in Ghana last June when its drilling operations uncovered a major oil find. This was followed by another gusher in Ghana in August and a gas discovery in Britain in September. Stock markets reacted positively to these successes, allowing Tullow to buck the market trend. Tullow's share price has almost doubled since the start of the year.

Another company which has defied the trend over the past year is Paddy Power. This is good news for its boss, Patrick Kennedy, who rowed in behind Heavey to grab second place. Kennedy, who has been at the helm of the company for about two years, joined Paddy Power as a non-executive director in 2004. He was previously chief financial officer with Greencore.

His financial expertise no doubt came in handy this year: operating profits for Paddy Power's Irish retail business grew by a whopping 131 per cent.

Airtricity boss Eddie O'Connor was voted the third best chief executive. Although Airtricity is not listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, it has major investors which are listed on the grey market. O'Connor stands to make a windfall from the sale of Airtricity, which was announced last month. His firm is expected to fetch a price tag of €1bn once the sale is completed.

Last year's best CEO was Kingspan's Gene Murtagh Jnr

Best young CEO

1. Gene Murtagh (Kingspan)

2. Patrick Coveney (Greencore)

3. Patrick Kennedy (Paddy Power)

Gene Murtagh Jnr has been voted Ireland's most impressive young CEO. The 36-year-old Murtagh, who took over at building materials group Kingspan in January 2005, oversaw a 30 per cent jump in profits this year, plus expansion into North America. Murtagh, whose father Eugene founded Kingspan, joined the group in 1993. After working in several parts of the group, he was appointed to the board of directors in 1999. Murtagh, a business graduate of the University of Limerick, is originally from Kingscourt, Co Cavan. He now lives in Dundalk.

Last week, the group's timber frame home division, Kingspan Century, secured a €4m contract from the British Government to build 200 carbon-free homes. However, Murtagh has been unable to shelter his company from the ongoing stockmarket woes. Kingspan's share price is now trading at almost half its annual peak.

Rowing in behind Murtagh was Patrick Coveney, the new chief executive-elect of sugar company, Greencore. Last week it was announced that Coveney was to take over from chief executive David Dilger in March. Before becoming finance director with Greencore in 2005, Coveney was a senior partner at McKinsey.

In a voting quirk, third place was 38-year-old Patrick Kennedy, who was considered to be the second best chief executive overall. But the young executive category does include other top floor roles, so it wasn't just chief executives that were nominated. Anglo Irish Bank boss David Drumm was voted into third spot by the analysts ... but at 41 years of age, far too old to be competing for the best young executive. In a heartless display of ageism, we bumped him off the list as a result.

Best big company

1 = CRH

1 = AIB

3 = IL&P, Ryanair, Tullow and Anglo

It's tight at the top, with CRH and AIB sharing the top spot. It's a big clap on the back for Eugene Sheehy, who has driven AIB up from a distant 5th last year, right up to joint top.

CRH boss Liam O'Mahony is departing for quieter pastures next year, after keeping the cement company at the top of its game for the last couple of years. While CRH and AIB were recognised by Irish stockbrokers as the best big companies on the market, international investors didn't share this view, with both firms' shares down by close to 40 per cent since the summer.

Voting was also tight for the runner-up slot, with IL&P, Anglo, Tullow and Ryanair all jostling for space.

Best small company

1. Norkom Technologies

2. Zamano

3 = Providence/Cpl Resources

Paul Kerley's fast-growing Norkom Technologies absolutely romped home as the best small company -- worth under €500m.

Norkom, which specialises in financial crime busting software, floated just over a year ago. Since then its has grown earnings and sales by over 50 per cent, as well as landing some serious blue-chip clients. The share price has gone through the roof despite all the stock market carnage. Mobile phone content firm Zamano was the second most widely lauded small company, with Providence Resources and last year's winner CPL Resources sharing third.

The best small company of 2006 was CPL Resources

Worst Deal

1. C&C's share buyback

2. ISTC Refinancing

3. Aer Lingus's rejection of Ryanair takeover

C&C boss Maurice Pratt's decision to blow millions on a noodle-brained share buy-back scheme ahead of a profits warning at the ailing cider company was the worst deal of the year, according to the analysts polled.

In May, Pratt announced plans to spend around €150m buying back the company's shares after selling its Ballygowan and fizzy drink business to Britvic. The company splashed out tens of millions of euro buying shares at prices of close to €11, ahead of issuing a series of profits warnings caused by increased competition and bad weather. C&C shares tanked, meaning that a large chunk of the proceeds from the Britvic deal were completely vapourised.

The summer fundraising exercise by Tiarnan O'Mahoney's quasi-listed ISTC limped home in second place, with dishonourable mentions for Aer Lingus's rejection of the Ryanair takeover approach, Smurfit and Boundary Capital IPOs and the Veris takeover of Orange all slated.

Last year's worst deal was the Aer Lingus IPO

Best deal

1 = IAWS Origin IPO/Otis Spunkmeyer buyout.

1 = Airtricity sale of US assets to E.On

3. CRH €330m purchase of Getaz Romang

IAWS took joint top spot with a combined vote for two deals -- floating off its agri business unit, Origin Enterprises, and its €445m purchase of US firm Otis Spunkmeyer, albeit in late 2006.

Grey market firms NTR and One51 were also beneficiaries of the other top-ranked deal of the year -- the sale of Airtricity's US business to E.On for €1bn.

There were a large number of deals highlighted by the stockbroking community, with CRH's €330m purchase of Swiss construction materials company Getaz Romang back in April. Last year's winner, CRH, was also given the thumbs up for its snaffling of various Cemex assets. The McInerney rights issue and ENI's takeout of Irish man Finian O'Sullivan's Burren Energy also scored well.

Last year's best deal was the CRH purchase of Apac

Least impressive CEO

1. Tiarnan O'Mahoney (ISTC)

2. Maurice Pratt (C&C)

A ding-dong battle saw C&C's Maurice Pratt just pipped by grey market disaster Tiarnan O'Mahoney of ISTC.

Tiarnan's turkey seemed brilliant, and some of Ireland's smartest and richest businessmen ploughed money into his inter-bank lending business. However, the credit crunch and an unexpected exposure to some iffy loans saw the company crumble, with an examiner called in to sift through the wreckage.

Maurice Pratt's year at C&C was nothing short of a corporate car crash. The company's share price has been eviscerated through a series of bungles and profits warnings.

Also mentioned by the stockbroking community were Fyffes's Carl McCann, Barry O'Connor, IFG's Mark Bourke and FBD's Philip Fitzsimons.

Last year's winner was Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion