Keady made his senior debut on 10 February 1985 in a 1-14 to 0-10 National Hurling League defeat by Offaly. Later that summer he made his championship debut in a 4-12 to 5-5 All-Ireland semi-final defeat of Cork. Offaly provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland final on 1 September 1985 and it was their goal-scoring ability that proved crucial. Pat Cleary scored the first of the day after twenty-five minutes of play and got his second less than half a minute after the restart. Joe Dooley had a goal disallowed halfway through the second-half while a long Joe Cooney effort, which seemed to cross the goal line, was not given. P. J. Molloy was Galway's goal scorer, however, the day belonged to Offaly. A 2–11 to 1–12 score line resulted in defeat for Galway.