He was born at Mountain Ash, South Wales, the second son of Cornelius Keating, a native of Cahirciveen, County Kerry.
He was educated at the local Catholic Elementary School and became a miner at Nixon's Navigation Colliery.
Keating was elected unopposed as Irish Nationalist Member of Parliament for South Kilkenny in a 1909 by-election, after the previous holder, Nicholas Joseph Murphy, was declared bankrupt.
Keating held the seat until the 1918 general election, when he was defeated by the Sinn Féin candidate and former MP for South Kilkenny, James O'Mara by 8,685 votes to 1,855.
He served also as a director of Irish Shell Ltd.[1] In 1913 Keating married Hannah Sweeney, of Gore, New Zealand, whose family were from County Donegal.