Jack O'Connor admitted it was a "tricky" day for him personally as his Newbridge return failed to produce a Kerry victory on the opening weekend of the Allianz NFL.
Last September, O'Connor quit the Lilywhites after two years at the helm and soon after took charge of Kerry for the third time.
O'Connor helped restore Kildare to the top tier before leaving and as fate would have it, his first league assignment saw him have to bring his Kerry squad to St Conleth's Park.
The Kingdom led by 1-7 to 0-4 at half-time but having lost the outstanding Gavin White to injury, the visitors were held to only three half time points and Kildare, in front of a large home crowd, came back in rainy and windy conditions to deservedly earn a point thanks to Jimmy Hyland's 72nd minute free.
"This was always going to be a tricky game for me," said O'Connor.
